My legislation this week:
* HB 202 – Industrial Hemp bill was heard in the Senate Committee
for Agriculture, Food Production & Outdoor Resources. I introduced
this bill in the Senate committee meeting and the Department of
Agriculture testified in favor of this bill.
* HB 200 – German Heritage Corridor bill was third read on the House
floor and was voted do pass by a vote of 126 Ayes. It has already been
sent to the Senate and first read.
Missouri’s Child Care Crisis (HB 870 [2])
We took action this week to address the lack of affordable child care
in the state.
I know there is a child care crisis in our communities and in our
state. This issue was compounded when 30% of our child care providers
closed during the pandemic and only 3% returned. Our parents, our
employers, and our state and local chambers are all telling us they
have frustration with the lack of affordable, reliable, quality child
care.
When 58% of businesses across Missouri report child care has been a
barrier to recruiting new employees and that 63% report it has been a
barrier to retaining current employees we have to act. I have visited
some pre-schools in my District and I have spoken to community leaders
about this concern.
HB 870 [3] creates tax credit programs to help fund child care in the
state. The approach is innovative because business, government, and
parents will all participate in the cost of care, making it affordable
for families, stable for child care providers, and creating a reliable
work force for our businesses.
The bill creates the following tax credits:
* Child Care Contribution Tax Credit that allows a taxpayer to claim
a tax credit for verified contributions to a child care provider in an
amount up to 75% of the contribution. The tax credit issued cannot be
less than $100, and cannot exceed $200,000 per tax year.
* Employer-Provided Child Care Assistance that allows a taxpayer to
claim a tax credit in an amount equal to 30% of the qualified child
care expenditures paid or incurred with respect to a child care
facility. The maximum amount of the credit cannot exceed $200,000 per
taxpayer per tax year.
* Child Care Providers Tax Credit that allows a child care provider
with three or more employees to claim a tax credit in an amount equal
to the child care provider’s eligible employer withholding tax, and
may also claim a tax credit in an amount up to 30% of the child care
provider’s capital expenditures. No tax credit for capital
expenditures will be allowed if the capital expenditures are less than
$1,000. The amount of any tax credit issued will not exceed $200,000
per child care provider per tax year.
Each of the credits has a six-year sunset.
Last year it is estimated that Missouri’s economy lost $1.35 billion
because of child care issues resulting in $280 million that we did not
collect in tax revenue. If we want Missouri’s economy to grow we
must address this problem.
The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.
Protect the Initiative Petition Process (HB 703 [4])
We approved legislation that would make statutory changes based on
court precedent to the state’s initiative petition process. By a
vote of 109-49, House members approved HB 703 [5] and sent it to the
Senate.
This is a complex bill, but nothing is more important than protecting
our constitution. Since 1945 over 199 amendments have been added to
the Missouri Constitution. The U.S. Constitution has been amended 27
times with 10 of them being in the original Bill of Rights, and that
has been since 1789. 199 to 27.
One provision in the bill requires that petition circulators be
citizens of the United States, residents of Missouri or physically
present in Missouri for at least 30 consecutive days prior to the
collection of signatures. It also prohibits them from being
compensated based on the number of signatures collected.
I think it’s important to eliminate paying circulators per signature
obtained because it’s a process ripe with fraud. There’s a lot of
out-of-state interests paying these folks per signature. Their
motivation is to collect as many signatures as possible instead of the
validity of the process.
The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration.
Other Bills Sent to the Senate:
HB 576 [6] creates the offense of interference with transportation of
livestock. A person commits the offense if he or she knowingly stops,
hinders, impedes, boards, or otherwise interferes with a motor vehicle
transporting livestock; provokes or disturbs livestock confined in a
motor vehicle; or puts a compound or substance on livestock that would
affect the livestock’s marketability, affect animal or human health,
or result in an unreasonable transportation delay. The offense of
interference with transportation of livestock is a class E felony for
the first offense and a class C felony for any subsequent offenses.
Supporters say the bill would help deter animal rights activists, who
protest the raising and processing of livestock for food. By
interrupting the transport of livestock to the processing plant,
protesters can cause the loss of processing time and the loss of the
life of the animal. These protests are a public safety concern for the
animals, the drivers of the livestock trailers, and the protesters, as
well as interrupting the food supply and jeopardizing food safety.
HB 200 [7] adds Perry County to the “German Heritage Corridor” along
the Missouri River, which lists counties that were greatly influenced
by early German settlers. Supporters say this is a needed fix and
there are a lot of people with German heritage in Perry County. Adding
the county to the corridor would help promote tourism.
HB 76 [8] creates the Career-Tech Certificate (CTC) Program beginning
with the 2024-25 academic year. This program is for students that have
met the GPA, attendance, and service requirements for the A+ Program
and are eligible for reimbursement of tuition, books, and fees, and
are attending an approved institution of postsecondary education, as
defined in the bill, for an eligible program of study or specified
training program. The bill provides reimbursement for students for one
certificate program or completion of a program of study. The bill will
create a separate track for students that during high school meet the
requirements and earn A+ tuition reimbursement, however not all
students are interested in attending a traditional community college
or vocational program. This bill will allow such students to receive
certificates or degrees under specified programs and have the costs of
those programs be covered.