Missouri 2022 Legislative Session: Week 2 Recap of AARP Missouri’s Priorities

Missouri 2022 Legislative Session: Week 2 Recap of AARP Missouri’s Priorities

Governor Parson Lays Out Budget Priorities

On Wednesday, Governor Mike Parson gave his State of the State speech to a joint session of the General Assembly.  While much of the speech defended the State response to the COVID-19 Pandemic over the past two years, his proposed Budget makes full use of pandemic assistance from Congress.

Included in the Governor’s Budget is a historic investment in home and community based services for aging and disabled Missourians.  Over $300 million will go to increased pay for home care attendants to try to increase the workforce, reduce turnover, and fill vacancies.  Another $20 million will be used to match provider rate reimbursements to market rates in targeted areas.  There’s also increased funding for technology upgrades, tracking, and training of home health professionals.

Governor Parson is also proposing the largest ever State investment in broadband high-speed internet deployment.  His plan would make full use of the over $300 million in federal funds as well as $56 million in state funds to build out infrastructure, connect communities to tele-health services, make broadband affordable to lower income households, and improve digital literacy.

Again, the Governor is proposing funding expansion of the Medicaid Program as passed by the voters in 2020, and required by a unanimous ruling of the Missouri Supreme Court last year.  While there are still some members of the General Assembly pushing to defund Medicaid, many of the former opponents now see it as decided.

The House of Representatives will move quickly next week to pass the first of two Supplemental Budgets for the current fiscal year and will then begin hearings on the Governor’s recommendations.

Workplace Retirement Savings

The House Committee on Financial Institutions voted 14-0 to pass House Bill 1732, sponsored by Representative Michael O’Donnell (R-St. Louis County) on Wednesday.  The legislation establishes a retirement savings plan for employees of small businesses in the State Treasurer’s Office.  These accounts, similar to Missouri MOST 529 College Savings Accounts would allow people who do not currently have the ability to save money directly from their paychecks to save for retirement.

The bill will now move to the House Rules Committee for scheduling on the floor.  Last year, Chairman J. Eggleston had some concerns with the legislation, including a provision that would have had employees decide to “opt out” of their workplace retirement plan rather than “opt in”.  The sponsor has made that change and we’re hopeful that the unanimous committee vote, only three weeks into the Legislative Session, put the bill on a fast track to the Senate.

New Congressional Maps Hit a Snag

This week, the Missouri House voted to move forward with what is being called a “status quo” Congressional district map.  But before the vote came up on the floor, elected officials from St. Charles County expressed their discontent that their county, which has grown to nearly the size of a congressional district, will be split between districts two and three under the new map.

Their opposition, and that of the House Minority, was enough to prevent the emergency clause from passing by the required two-thirds majority, which could mean that the districts would not go into effect until after the primary elections have already been held.

There are several ways that the issue may be resolved in coming weeks, but for now, the new maps will move to the Senate for their consideration.

Hearing on Medicaid Restrictions

This week, the House Budget Committee held a hearing on House Joint Resolution 117, which would put new restrictions on Medicaid into the State Constitution.  Sponsored by Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith (R-Carthage), the new amendment would allow the General Assembly to withdraw funding from the expansion population, and put new work reporting requirements on enrollees between the ages of 19 and 64. 

The proposed work reporting requirements would not consider caring for an older or disabled loved one as “work”, though caring for a minor child, education, or community service would.  This would essentially exclude full time, unpaid family caregivers, from receiving health care through the Medicaid program.

In other states, many enrollees who were eligible for services, even under the work reporting requirements, we’re denied due to simple mistakes in reporting. 

HJR 117 could be passed out of the House Budget Committee next week.

CWIP Legislation Heard

For well over a decade, an idea to allow electric utilities in Missouri to charge consumers during the construction of a nuclear plant has been circulating at the Capitol.  Called Construction Work in Progress, or CWIP, it would change the current law in Missouri requiring that consumers may not be charged for the construction of new power plants until those plants are online and delivering electricity to those customers. 

In the past, CWIP was pushed by Ameren as a way to build a second nuclear plant in Calloway County, near the current nuclear plant.  Ameren has since abandoned the idea as federal assistance funds dried up and low cost renewable options came online. 

Now, some conservation groups are pushing for CWIP as a means of bringing Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), a new and untested technology, to Missouri.  If the technology is proven, SMRs could be a less costly and more timely way to bring nuclear plants online, which would eliminate the need for CWIP by removing time and cost barriers.

Missouri has been slower than many states in adopting new technology related to energy production and transmission, but that has benefitted consumers since new technologies are more costly and become more affordable after mass adoption.  Just like buying last year’s smart phone costs less than the new shiny model.

In other states, schemes similar to CWIP have led to massive cost overruns, since there is little incentive for monopoly utilities to control costs.  In South Carolina, a nuclear power plant lies unfinished while consumers are left to pick up the multi-billion dollar tab for a  project that may never be completed.