The annual spring break for the General Assembly has passed and we now begin the final seven weeks of this legislative session.  For spring break, I met with some House Leadership in Hot Springs, AR and combined some rest and relaxation with my wife Debbie.  Following spring break, our number one job is to create the budget for fiscal year 2006 that will begin on July 1.  We hope to finish work on the House version of the budget this coming week and pass it along to the Senate, which will give them about three weeks to debate it and approve it.  The Missouri Constitution requires that the budget be completed by 6 P.M. on the first Friday of May.

With the Workers’ Compensation Reform and the Tort Reform bills both signed into law the General Assembly will turn to other matters such as the budget and school funding issues.  We have yet to see a formal bill on school funding, but the joint committee of the House and Senate have presented several proposals for review by our schools and by experts in the areas of school funding. This issue should come to the forefront in the following weeks.

Over the past few weeks, the Capitol has been filled with advocacy groups working for more Medicaid funding. On Tuesday, several rallies were held protesting the reductions and reforms that have been proposed.

The bill being protested against is Senate Bill 539.  This bill sets up a 10-member commission to reform and re-organize our current welfare system. The bill makes several changes to eligibility requirements and allows the state to charge from $0.50 to $3.00 co-pays for medical benefits.  It also sets up the new Medicare Part D prescription drug plan for seniors.

On Wednesday night, the House Special Committee on General Laws held a public hearing on SB 539.  The hearing lasted until well after midnight and had some very interesting testimony.  Caseworkers from around the state gave some of the most interesting testimony.  They told the committee of many ways to work to reform the Medicaid system to allow resources to get to the people who need the services.  They pointed out how to weed out some of the people who abuse and defraud the system.  Several workers testified how frustrating it is to extend benefits to people that were in better financial shape than the caseworkers were themselves.

Several people voiced concern that under the current system, we require senior citizens to spend down to $999 in assets and be basically dependent upon the state, but other programs allow some able bodied families assets of up to $250,000 dollars. One caseworker testified that because of the rules, she had to place the children of a couple on the Medicaid program even though that couple had over $160,000 in their personal checking account.  These are several of the reasons that the reform commission was set up and hopefully will be able to work to re-prioritize our state assets to direct those funds to the people who really need the help.

That’s my perspective.