Missouri Classical Music News and Notes

With just under six weeks until the end of session, both the Senate and the House have been working vigorously to approve legislation and negotiate compromises on some of the more controversial issues.

ARTS APPROPRIATION
After meeting for hours throughout the week, the Senate Appropriations Committee finished the first round of mark-up on all budget bills (HB 1 to HB 13) yesterday evening.

The Senate Appropriations Committee left all the Cultural Partners' budgets open for further debate last Wednesday, April 4, 2007. Leaving the line items open means they can come back and cut money out of the program later if they wish. If they cut the arts and the amount differs from the House budget, we will have to go to conference to work out the differences.

When session resumes on Tuesday, April 10, 2007, the committee will begin analyzing and discussing open items to determine which portions will need to be sent to conference for further debate.

For more information on the Senate Appropriations Committee, please visit:
http://www.senate.mo.gov/07info/comm/aprp.htm

SENATE
The foremost accomplishment this week was the perfection of MO HealthNet, SCS/SB 577, the Medicaid reform legislation sponsored by Senator Charlie Shields. The program is the proposed solution to replace the current Medicaid program, which sunsets in 2008. The hours of debate resulted in nineteen amendments, which included:

Adding other mental health providers (licensed under chapter 337, RSMo) in addition to psychiatrists and psychologists to the groups eligible for MO HealthNet payments.
Requiring that the Department of Social Services engage in a public process for the design, development, and implementation of MO HealthNet and that the process include input from consumers, health advocates, disability advocates and other key stakeholders parties.
Inserting section 208.659, which revises the eligibility requirements for the uninsured women’s health program to include women who are at least 18 years old and with a net family income of, at, or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level.
Attaching Representative Schaaf’s Medicaid fraud bill, HB 353, which was approved by the House earlier in the session.
Requiring hospice care to be covered under MO HealthNet.

The bill is expected to receive final approval from the Senate early next week.

HOUSE
The House endured a long, but productive week as they approved over thirty bills and debated several more. The legislation they looked at varied from licensing to transportation to immigration. Among the bills that were approved was HB 579, sponsored by Majority Leader Representative Tom Dempsey. The bill allows for the deployment of health care professionals licensed, registered, or certified in Missouri or any other state in an emergency and grants them immunity from civil damages. The bill achieved unanimous approval in the House with a vote of 159-0.

Other bills taken up by the House include:

HCS/HB 914, sponsored by Representative Jay Wasson, which contains multiple provisions relating to licensing and regulations. The bill was perfected on Tuesday and is on the House Calendar to be third read.
HCS/HB 182, sponsored by Representative Mark Bruns, which establishes the Outside the Hospital Do-Not-Resuscitate Act to permit the execution of do-not-resuscitate orders for use by emergency medical providers for patients receiving treatment outside a hospital. The bill was third read and passed by a vote of 158. It was first read in the Senate on Thursday.
HJR 19, sponsored by Representative Carl Bearden, which proposes a constitutional amendment guaranteeing a citizen's First Amendment right to pray on public property and reaffirming a citizen's right to choose any or no religion. The bill was perfected on Thursday and is on the House Calendar to be third read.
HCS/HB 497, sponsored by Representative David Sater, which establishes guidelines for the licensure and supervision of physician assistants. The bill was third read and passed by a vote of 149-8.

UPCOMING LEGISLATIVE DATES

Easter Break will be Monday, April 9. Session for both chambers will resume at 12:00 on Tuesday, April 10.
The last day to report House consent bills from a Senate committee is Thursday, April 12.
Appropriations bills must be Truly Agreed and Third Passed by Friday, May 11.