MO Gov. Parson calls special session for education, drug…

Gov. Mike Parson announced this week he is calling for a special session of the Missouri general assembly to discuss legislative bills related to science education and drug courts.

The session will be concurrent with the annual “veto” session, in which legislators may vote to override a governor’s veto ruling for any bills from the traditional January-May session.

In a statement announcing the decision, the governor indicated he did not oppose new policy promoting drug courts or robust computer-science education in high schools, but he hoped legislators would, “come up with a more narrowly defined focus” on those policies.

The session will take place the week of Sept. 10-14.

How important is Medicaid and CHIP to children in…

Millions of children in the United States obtain health coverage through federal programs like Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Recently, the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute Center for Children and Families launched an interactive map showing the impact of these programs locally.

Specifically, the map shows the percentage of children enrolled in either Medicaid or CHIP by congressional district as of 2016, the most recent year such data is available.

Missouri has eight congressional districts. In five of them, more than 30 percent of children are enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP. In one of them, it is more than 40 percent.

Both federally funded health programs have come under scrutiny as government agencies seek to contain costs, particularly related to Medicaid. Former Gov. Greitens, for example, called for $40 million in cost-containment initiatives in Missouri’s version of the Medicaid program. President Trump in May requested approximately $7 billion in unspent CHIP funds remain unspent to contain costs.

Congress could act on farm/food stamps bill after Labor…

U.S. Rep. Vicky Harzler, R-MO, will serve on a committee which could make sweeping changes to federal policies on food stamps, free or reduced school lunches and farm subsidies.

Both chambers of Congress have passed bills extending the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Bill details differ significantly. The House farm bill, called the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018, would reduce enrollment in the SNAP program and increase work requirements for recipients. The Senate version extends the program’s job-training program.

The House bill passed on June 17 by a largely party-line vote of 213-211. The Senate version enjoyed more bipartisan support and passed by a 86-11 margin.

Both bills now go to conference, with House and Senate leadership assigning members of the conference committee. On the House side, Missouri Rep. Vicky Hartzler will be among the committee members.

Negotiations on the conference committee bill are currently ongoing. A vote is not expected until after Labor Day, as the House is in recess from July 27-Labor Day, and the Senate is in recess from Aug. 6-10.