West County Democrats
Legislative Update
April 9, 2018
Federal Items:
Congress managed to avoid a government shutdown and passed a trillion-dollar spending bill to operate programs till the end of the fiscal year: numerous commentators expect this to be the last major bill passed by Congress this year. The kitchen-sink approach funded most benefit programs and other social activities at or near traditional levels. The Freedom Caucus was not impressed.
Note that Trump’s budget plan expects new federal debt of better than one trillion dollars a year – twice the rate of Obama’s last year. The impacts of the Trump tax cuts remain to be seen.
Some ultra-conservative members of Congress are working (almost under the radar) to eviscerate benefit programs such as food stamps and Medicaid. For example, traditionally food stamps have enjoyed bi-partisan support. This year the chair of the House Agriculture Committee is working towards a Farm Bill reauthorization passed with just GOP votes which would reduce food stamp benefits by 25%. (These cuts would be on top of the reductions forced by political appointees in the USDA bureaucracy.)
The Trump administration continues to suck 99% of the oxygen out of Washington. What would normally be major administrative scandals fall into the shadows in the wake of Karen and Stormy and Scott and all the other characters in the White House soap opera.
State Items:
The Greitens Affair still consumes most of the energy in the state Capitol. Besides the city criminal case and the House special committee investigation, it is common knowledge in Jefferson City that the FBI is digging deep into Greiten’s fund raising practices.
Right before spring break in late March, the House passed its budget bills. The Senate will spend most of this month reviewing and modifying the House’s work. Please remember that the numbers being used probably came from a Ouija session by top Republican lawmakers. The impact of newly implemented state tax rate cuts, the sluggish economy, the trickle down of the Trump tax code changes, and, a myriad of other factors have made accurately predicting revenue impossible.
The House budget fully funds the school foundation formula (in its current, reduced way), mitigates the governor’s proposed cuts to higher education, and, finds money for a few pet projects. To do that the state will continue to starve programs helping seniors – as well as limiting the Circuit Breaker tax credit to just home owners.
Among this session’s most interesting legislation…
House Bill 1486 Punishes adults on food stamps – and their families – if they don’t work
20 hours every week.
HB 1531 Gives insurance companies an easy-out (pay their policy limit to the court and
run away) in suits with high payout potential.
HB 1295 Allows semi-trucks to “platoon” – drive down the highway about 50 feet apart,
speed controlled by the lead truck.
HB 1936 The “guns everywhere” bill.
HB 1383 Requires both parents to consent to an abortion on a minor (while only one parent
has to agree to let a 15 year old marry).
HB 1266 The “Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act” to restrict abortion.
Senate Bill 564 Allows utilities to raise rates without Public Service Commission rate cases.
In addition, SB 617 & HB 2540 call for similar re-workings of the state tax code. While both bills have touches of things many progressives want to see, such as a state earned income credit, in the end both would reduce state revenue by hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
State Auditor Nicole Galloway has found that Missouri’s gross revenue is more than $4 billion a year below the Hancock Amendment cap. The Missouri Budget Project expects Missouri’s revenue situation – before any new tax cuts – to deteriorate in coming years. The current proposals could widen the chasm by up to half a billion dollars a year.
Some form of tax cut will pass.
In the administrative trivia department, the Department of Social Services now required virtually all low-income families receiving benefits (Temporary Assistance, food stamps and MO HealthNet, for example) to utilize the state’s Call Center system. The average wait time to get a call answered: 25 minutes. (Many calls require a second wait for a specialized worker.)
Submitted by Glenn Koenen