Sater's Capitol Straightalk
5/23/08

The 2008 legislative session has now concluded, and it definitely had its up side and down sides. Having our both Governor and our Speaker of the House in their last year made getting legislation through much more difficult this year. One of the Governor’s main issues was Insure Missouri in which the state would partner with employers and low-income employees and the hospitals to fund health insurance. This was an initiative that I proposed previously year and was included in the HealthNet (Medicaid) bill that passed last year.  Unfortunately, it just did not have the support of the Speaker or the Senate. I still think this is a wonderful initiative and we will try again next year.

     One of the roadblocks to legislation was getting the Village Law repealed which enabled a private individual to bypass county regulations and set up their own village. This way you could be mayor, sheriff and dogcatcher on your own property and be independent of the rest of the county. The Speaker of the House supported this legislation last year and fought hard this year to keep it intact. This session the House, with the sponsorship of Senator Jack Goodman, overturned this legislation and rightfully so. But in the process, it delayed debate on good programs that were eventually stalled and never came before the House for approval.

     Next year will be a new year and I look forward to new leadership. Our next Speaker is Ron Richard from Joplin and he is already formulating plans for better and more open communication between the House, the Senate and the Governor. The last two weeks he proposed a committee of 12 representatives, of which I am a member, to study and recommend to the body ways to make our House more efficient, open and concise in legislative initiatives. One of the problems the last few years has been that only a few select members from House leadership were controlling what legislation was of importance with very little input from the rest of the body. This will change and every member will be given an opportunity to present their issues of importance for consideration. These issues will be presented to a committee called Policy Development Committee and they will select the issue that will be voted on by our caucus as issues that are of utmost importance for the coming session. Our committee feels every member is of equal importance and should be given this respect.

     We will probably end the fiscal year on July 31st with a budget surplus of around 200 million dollars. However, in the last several months we have seen a definite slowing of the economy and state revenues. It is predicted next year will see only a 1-2 % increase compared to this year’s 3% if that holds between now and July 31st  which it may not. 

     For next year we budgeted a 121 million dollar increase in funding for elementary and secondary schools and a 43 million increase for colleges next year.  Medicaid funding will increase by 250 million. We will have a small increase in participants due to population growth, but this increase is mainly from increased medical costs. We stiffened the penalties for those who commit mortgage fraud against Missouri homebuyers. Protecting the sanctity of human life is always a priority and we budgeted 620,000 dollars to support the Alternatives to Abortion Program. Our budget contains 2.2 million dollars for family support and housing assistance for homeless veterans. We passed legislation to prohibit the creation of sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants, prohibit illegal immigrants from obtaining a drivers license, require verification of legal employment status of every public employee and allows for cancellation of state contracts for contractors if they hire illegal immigrants. The bill also requires citizenship checks on every individual presented for incarceration.

     I had four bills that I thought might have a chance to pass, and one made it through the process.  The Pharmacy Audit Bill which gives pharmacies throughout the state an equal footing with Insurance companies when they do an onsite audit of a pharmacy. As for the other bills that did not pass, there is next year and we will try again. There was over 2500 House bills presented not counting budget bills, and 116 passed and will be sent to the governor.

     Each session has its own personality and this year’s was very interesting.  That being said, I’m glad to be home and hope to hear from you during the interim with any problems or concerns you may have regarding your state government.

     Hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day holiday.

Sater's Capitol Straightalk
5/05/08

  We are in the last two full weeks of session. They will last five days each week and our schedule is from early morning till late at night. You may ask ‘why does it take so much time?’ There is no one answer, but I will try and explain the process.  We will be working on the floor most of the time. There are still House bills that we are debating to perfect and then onto 3rd reading before they can go to the Senate. There are also Senate bills that we are debating and studying. If we place any amendments on a Senate bill and we pass it in the House, it goes back to the Senate.  If they change it there, it comes back to us again for a vote. House bills that we send to the Senate may come back to us if the Senate places any amendments on the bill. Some bills only take 10 to 30 minutes to debate and vote on, but some may take several hours. The more opposition and the more amendments, the longer it takes. Also the minority party will try and stall by debating a bill as long as possible, especially if they do not like the legislation. When the Republican party was in the minority, we did the same thing. It is much more pleasurable being in the majority since we control what legislation gets heard on the House floor. There will probably be just over a 100 bills that will pass and go into law. That is out of 2000 plus bills were filed in both the House and Senate.

     This last week I handled a bill on behalf of Senator Rob Mayer, dedicating pharmaceutical rebates that are paid to the State of Missouri because the state uses these drugs for the Medicaid program. It is no different than a large company agreeing to purchase a particular product in large quantities if the manufacturer gives us a price break. The trouble is, this rebate money just goes back into General Revenue and of course there are many concerns that would like to have these funds for their state funded programs. The bill dedicates the rebate money to only go for the Medicaid Pharmacy Program which originated it in the first place. I see more of this type of legislation going forth designating funds for a certain purposes. I have a tobacco settlement bill that designates part of the settlement that we get each year for smoking prevention and cessation. If you do not nail it down, it is up for grabs each year.

     SB 2224 is coming over to the House soon and creates the Deputy Sheriff Salary Supplementation Fund.  Money will flow into the fund from summons fees that originate from a court order and collected by the County Sheriff. This money will be deposited in county treasury, and transferred to the Deputy Sheriff Salary Fund. These extra funds will be used to augment county deputy sheriff’s salaries. People who break the law will be paying for this fund. This is a good bill as sufficient salaries do result in quality law enforcement.

     I try and read legislative articles as much as I can to keep myself up to date with issues. I have many people who also send me items they think would be of interest to me. One E-mail I received related to some information on hospitals. It mentioned MD Anderson Cancer Hospital in Houston, Texas.  Apparently they have begun a pay first before treatment program. If your insurance will not cover the full cost, then you will have to come up with the cash before treatment is started. It even discussed the case of a woman who was undergoing treatment with an IV bag. The machine that was monitoring the procedure started beeping which meant it needed a new bag. The hospital would not install a new bag of Chemo until the husband went to the payment office and made a payment for the medicine, and this is a non-profit hospital. I do not believe any of our hospitals in our state are starting this payment program, but this really bothers me that this would happen in the richest country in the world. I am going to do some research to see if this is being considered in Missouri.  If I find this starting to happen, my appropriations committee would be a good place to find some answers, since we appropriate funds for the hospitals for Medicaid patients.

    Thank you for allowing me to be your Representative.

Sater's Capitol Straightalk
4/23/08

  I delight in seeing people from Barry County visiting the Capitol.  Mr. & Mrs. Wayne Karrick just happened to be here for a Southern Baptist state meeting in Jefferson City and came by. I took them on an abbreviated tour, showed them how hard I worked. I think they believed me. I also had the County Assessors in town and the Commissioners. So if you ever are in the area, come and see me. I always enjoy the visit.

     This week we passed out of the House an appropriations bill for capital improvements for some state buildings and educational facilities. This funding did not make it through the process last year, but is a priority this year. One of the items listed in House Bill 2023 was 4.5 million dollars for the vocational education facility in Monett. Local matching funds must be provided on a 50/50 state/local match rate in order to be eligible for state funds. This has been done and hopefully it will stay in the bill as it proceeds in the Senate.  The Governor has already given his support.

     The Missouri Department of Revenue has caused a stir by increasing the price to obtain a car title or driver’s record.  After May 1, 2008, the old rate of $1.25 goes to the new rate of $7.00.  The Department of Revenue has statutory authority to make this increase, and they are justifying the raise by basing cost on equipment used and personnel needed. They are installing a new computer system to replace the old one which lacked the capability of increasing storage capacity and more importantly interoperability. The old system had 23 different applications and had a hard time communicating between application systems. I wish the department had projected this cost a few years ago and incrementally increased the cost each year. This cost, of course, will be passed along to the consumers in the long run. There are many hidden fees that in reality are taxes we pay as citizens.  The state agencies can change the rates and charges without a vote of the people, and this is one of them.

     Another example is what the Corp. of Engineers has instituted during the last two years in federal parks around the country. To drive into a facility such as Shell Knob just to look around will cost you $4, unless you tell them you are going to the marina. As a constituent mentioned, I can see $4 for Yellowstone Park, but not Campbell Point. This fee increase was not passed into law by Congress, it was a departmental decision to institute a fee or tax. The only way to change this is by passing legislation to change the statutes.

    I have three bills being processed in the Senate and have been spending some time on that side of the building getting bipartisan support for my legislation. I had one Senator tell me that if his Senate bill did not get a hearing in the House, he was not going to pass my bill out of his committee. I am brokering a deal between the two in order to get my legislation through the process. It reminds me of a time I was playing golf with a friend. He asked if he could get there with a 5 iron. I told him, eventually. Up here we just have to keep hitting away and hopefully we will have enough time to get there eventually.

     Thank you for the opportunity to serve. I might not be able to solve all problems, but I will always give it my highest priority.

Sater's Capitol Straightalk
3/31/08

Greetings from the Capitol. As I mentioned in my last report, this is budget time for the legislature. Last week we passed out the 13 budget bills, and they will now proceed to the Senate for their consideration. I am sure they will add and subtract recommendations that we have made. Then onto Conference Committee which I will participate in on House Bills 10 and 11 which encompass my committees recommendations. My budget recommendations to the budget committee ended up 36 million dollars less than what passed out of the committee. I still believe that the economic projections that are being forecast will be lower than what others believe up here. I would rather be a little cautious on the budget, than optimistic when it comes to appropriating funds. We can always increase the appropriations if the revenues are stronger than the forecast. This is your money, not the governments, and I still believe in less government not more programs. The final budget totals came to 22.4 billion dollars. Last year it was around 21.5 billion.

   Last week, I presented and debated HB 1326, my hybrid vehicle tax deduction bill. I was trying to keep it clean of amendments, but one was added that would only allow vehicles manufactured in the United States to get the deduction. It would exempt any foreign made hybrid car. This amendment will decrease the number of Missourians who would purchase hybrids from obtaining a tax deduction. When the bill goes to the Senate next week, I will work with the Senate in stripping this amendment off the bill. The object of the legislation is less dependence on foreign oil, a cleaner environment, and an increase in U.S. jobs for manufacturers who make these vehicles.

    A concentrated animal feeding operation bill is sticking its head up again in the form of a tax credit. This is corporate welfare at the expense of family farmers and taxpayers. I do not believe that hard working, tax-paying citizens should subsidize corporate controlled CAFOs.

      Another bill that I have hitting the floor in the next few weeks is legislation that puts more oversight into mental health habilitation centers. In the past there have been abuses and accidents in several facilities. The bill will strengthen requirements of safety for the residents and have penalties if a facility does not take the proper steps for safety and security of the residents. Most of these habilitation centers are for people who have severe mental illness and probably cannot return to society.

    The filing deadline for statewide elections ended last week. The campaign season has begun, although in some cases, it started a few months ago. There are some legislative races that candidates are going to need to raise over $100,000 for a job that pays $31,000. This is normally not the candidate’s money being spent on the campaign, it usually comes from donations. I know of a few candidates that receive most of their money from specific organizations. These candidates would certainly be beholding to the donators and vote accordingly. I would like to see some campaign reform which ensures candidates that will represent all of their constituents, and not just a certain group. I guess this is something else for me to work on in the future.

    I always enjoy receiving correspondence from you. No problem is too small