Missouri currently ranks 33rd in the nation in median family income. The committee is charged with creating a vision of a better Missouri to include improving economic prosperity and opportunities for Missouri citizens. The committee must create such a vision to include a long-term strategy and plan for creating new and well-paying jobs for Missouri citizens as well as focus on making Missouri a place where existing businesses can grow and thrive and new businesses can be attracted to locate. The committee must examine how to build on programs like the Quality Jobs Act that has added thousands of jobs to our economy and has sent the message to businesses that Missouri has a business-friendly environment. The committee, as part of such a long-term strategy and plan, must look to enact policies and create new tools to retain existing jobs and attract businesses of the future.

The committee's members shall be responsible for:

a. Developing a long-term strategy and plan for increasing the economic prosperity and opportunities for the citizens of this state; and

b. Developing tools to help existing businesses grow by creating new jobs and attract new businesses that will bring quality, well-paying jobs with benefits to our state; and

c. Ensuring that our regulatory environment is responsible to our natural resources, but does not become such a burden that it drives jobs out of state.

Missouri currently ranks 38th in the nation in terms of the health status of the state's citizens. The committee is charged with creating a vision for a better Missouri that includes improvement of our health systems so that Missourians can lead healthier, longer, and more productive lives. To meet this challenge, the committee must develop a long-term strategy and plan for bringing more people into health coverage. Placing the burden upon Missouri businesses to bear the cost of providing insurance to their employees as well as paying the costs of the uninsured through their premium payments is not a long-term strategy for furthering the health of the state's citizens and increasing the economic vitality of our state. Therefore, the state needs to develop a long-term strategy and plan for controlling the soaring cost of health care while also moving our state's more than 700,000 uninsured into coverage.

The committee's members shall be responsible for:

a. Developing a long-term strategy and plan to provide health insurance coverage for citizens of this state that do not currently have access, or cannot afford such coverage; and

b. Studying the development of a rational health care system in our state that engages employers, hospitals, physicians, insurance companies, and the federal government to find ways to blend funding streams and create market incentives for participation in the system.

Missouri currently ranks 30th in the nation in number of 25-34 year olds with a degree past high school. The committee is charged with creating a vision for a better Missouri that strives to support an educated and academically skilled citizenry in our state for the future. There is an indisputable correlation between the economic prosperity of a state and the quality and level of education and skill of its citizenry. The United States, for years, led the world as the most successful and prosperous nation because our citizens have typically had the highest quality and level of education, yet our nation now ranks 10th among industrialized nations in the percentage of young adults with college degrees. Missouri's current ranking of 30th in the nation in number of 25-34 year olds with a degree past high school places Missouri behind our neighboring states of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois. The committee, as part of our long-term strategy and plan for creating an educated citizenry, must improve academic achievement and move more of our young people into an education experience past high school if we are going to compete with our neighboring states and the rest of the world. This long-term strategy cannot simply focus on higher education, but must take place along the entire spectrum of education.

The members of the committee shall be responsible for:

a. Developing a long-term strategy and plan for an education system where every child enters school ready to learn by ensuring access to quality education and support for stay-at-home parents; and

b. Studying the development of an elementary, secondary and higher education system that educates students who are capable of attending and being productive and successful citizens that is designed to successfully prepare graduates for global competition; and

c. Examining any other aspects of education policy that the committee deems appropriate for creating an educated citizenry in our state.

The committees shall elect a chairperson and a vice chairperson for the committee who shall serve during the pendency of each committee. The authority of the committees shall terminate on December 31, 2010. The committees shall be authorized to call upon any department, office, division, or agency of this state to assist in gathering information pursuant to each committee's objectives. The staff of Senate Research shall provide such legal, research, clerical, technical, and bill drafting services as each committee may require in the performance of its duties and each committee, its members, and any staff assigned to the committee shall receive reimbursement for their actual and necessary expenses incurred in attending meetings of the committee.