It’s been a fun and hectic time at the Capitol. We’ve continued to host several school groups, and last week in the House, we finalized most of our state’s balanced budget for fiscal year 2024 which starts July 1, 2023.
Before we dive into the budget, let’s talk about something maybe just a little more entertaining. Everytime I’m recognized for debate on the House floor, the House gives our county its very own and unique shout out or “howl” (Howell) of appreciation.
By tradition and House rule, every representative must be identified (not by their own name) but by the name of their County that each represents. So everytime the “Gentleman from Howell County” is recognized to speak, other House members “howl” in recognition. I don’t know when the “howl” became a part of our House tradition, but I believe it’s a good thing. No county (except Howell) has its own cheer or is better recognized. So when I hear other members howling for our county, I just smile and nod in appreciation. For as we in the Ozarks already know, this is God’s country, and we are blessed to be living here.
Turning to the budget, the majority of budget bills have now passed out of the House, and just like your own house budget, the government must also make tough decisions about spending your limited tax dollars. At this year’s budget hearings, the opposing party repeatedly yelled at us for not spending even more money and for not abolishing the long standing House balanced budget rule. They say it’s “shameful” to balance the state budget, but shameful or not, hard budget decisions have to be made. We aren’t the federal government. We simply can’t print more money. Difficult spending priorities must be set, and bills must be paid. The piper always comes to collect his due. It doesn’t work any other way.
Here is one of those important spending decisions we made in budget committee. A few weeks back a group of concerned citizens from Willow Health Care visited. They described a pending crisis in staffing for nursing homes. The Willow Health Care network oversees several nursing facilities in our area, but they just can’t compete with private business in paying the ever-increasing (inflation driven) wages. As mandated by federal law, nursing homes must also meet per patient mandatory minimum staffing requirements for care given 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Nursing homes have had to start turning folks away because they can’t hire enough workers to fully staff both night and weekend shifts.
I brought up this senior care crisis at our budget hearing, and we made the decision to appropriate an additional 71 million dollars to help meet the critical staff shortages in nursing homes across the state.
Turning next for a quick update on my HB 662 (eliminating all state income tax on Social Security retirement and disability benefits), this bill was debated on the House floor as part of HB 816/660. I presented the argument for the cut in Social Security tax on the floor. This combined bill passed out of the House by a vote of 111 to 48. It’s now headed to the Senate.
Closing with this discussion, one of my most important jobs is to kill (or at least fix) badly written bills before those bad bills become bad law. Right now, there is ongoing pressure by lobbyist to pass a very bad bill as amended. These lobbyist represent clients wanting to sell even more dangerous drugs, which will likely cause even more misery to Missourians.
It may sound like I’m making this up, but this past week lobbyists (for what had been the illegal drug trade) maneuvered to get an amendment added onto a veteran’s bill (HB 1154). Later in studying that bill and amendment, I found bad language buried in the legalese. If HB 1154 were to be passed into law in Missouri, it would legalize (for “medicinal” purposes) psychedelic mushrooms to be grown, ingested, and administered.
This same exact playbook was used to first get “medical” marijuana passed into law, and then later, to get marijuana fully legalized. I’m asking for your help and for the help of other representatives to stop this bad bill (as amended) from becoming law. I’ll keep you updated.
Again, thank you for the ongoing honor of serving as your representative and speaking for your common sense values. If you would like to schedule a specific time to meet locally or at the Capitol, please call Becky Connell at my office at 573-751-1455, or email my office at david.evans@house.mo.gov.
