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By Otto Fajen
MNEA Legislative Director
HOUSE DEBATES BUSINESS TAX CREDITS
The House spent about five hours debating and amending HB 191 (Tim Flook) relating to business tax credits. The afternoon debate forced the cancellation of many committee meetings, including the House Appropriations-Education Committee meeting. HB 191 lifts or raises the cap on several business tax credits and reinstates some that have expired. The exact impact of these tax credit changes is unknown, since some currently capped programs, such as the Quality Jobs Program, would no longer have any limit on the amount of tax credits.
The Association strongly urges the legislature to maintain limits on all tax credits and to ensure that all tax credit programs are transparent, properly documented and accountable for meaningful results in return for the public investment of the tax expenditures given. The bill was perfected late in the afternoon and will now be reprinted with all of the adopted amendments and take up soon for final passage, also known as Third Reading.
CHARTER SCHOOLS
The Senate Education Committee began the hearing on SB 64 (Scott Rupp) regarding charter schools on February 4. The committee heard extensive testimony from proponents and heard testimony from opposition witnesses who will not be available when the hearing on the bill resumes at next week's regularly scheduled hearing. The bill makes several changes regarding charter schools, including expansion of territory in which charter schools may be established, expansion of the list of allowed sponsors of charter schools and enactment of standards for charter school sponsors.
Missouri NEA believes that public charter schools should be accountable for student learning, staff member qualifications and financial integrity. Current Missouri law is inadequate to ensure that accountability. The Association opposes expansion of geography and sponsors at this time and, thus, opposes SB 64. The legislature should first provide the additional funding needed to conduct a detailed study of the performance of Missouri public charter schools thus far. Current charter school law must also be revised to establish clear, rigorous standards on sponsorship accountability. The sponsor standards portion of SB 64 alone would make a good first step, though the language should go even farther and clearly articulate the standards by which sponsors will evaluate, discipline and, if necessary, terminate charter schools.
TAXATION
The state needs a fair, adequate and sustainable tax policy to fund investment in public schools and other vital services. The House Tax Reform Committee met on February 4 and heard several relevant bills, including:
1) HB 87 (Maynard Wallace) to exempt motor fuel purchased for school buses from the state motor fuel tax. Missouri NEA supports this bill, since it eliminates the inefficiency of imposing a tax on a publicly-funded entity and because it will allow school districts to use the tax savings to support other expenditures that will help provide educational opportunities to students. At the same time, the Association recognizes that the state faces a massive drop in funding for road and bridge expenditures and urges the legislature to fashion a comprehensive solution to that problem that does not decrease state funding to public education or other vital public services. HB 112 (Brian Munzlinger) is essentially the same as HB 87 and was also heard during the same hearing.
2) HB 348 (Mark Parkinson) would offer a state income tax deduction for home schooling expenses. The Association noted concerns about the fairness of the proposal in singling out only home schooling expenses and also concerns about the impact of any such tax deduction on the adequacy and equity of the state revenues that support the state's primary duty: adequate and equitable funding of public schools.
HEALTHCARE
The Senate Progress and Development Committee met on February 4 to hear SB 18 (Joan Bray). The bill would create a single-payer healthcare system for all Missourians. No fiscal note was available, but the bill would certainly have an immense cost in state revenues, though it would be partially offset by a massive reduction in employer expense on health insurance across the state.
Missouri NEA went on record in strong support of the bill. The Association supports universal health care for all students, staff and all other Missourians as a basic right. The single payer option is one of several available options and is likely to be a significant part of the ultimate solution to health care coverage for all Missourians. Reforms to health care should be guided by the goals of universal coverage, minimizing employer impact and ensuring that all parts of the health care provider system are accountable for making health care better, safer and less costly.
FINDING INFORMATION ABOUT BILLS
To find information about a specific bill currently pending before the Missouri General Assembly, go to:
http://www.house.mo.gov/billcentral.aspx.
Type the bill number (example: HB1000)
or sponsor name in the “search” box to find a link to the bill.
This link will take you to a “home page” for the bill that provides
bill text, bill summaries, fiscal notes and information on legislative action
on the bill.