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| October Keaveny Connection |
Contact: Stacy Morse (573) 751-3599 |
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| November Ballot Issues | |||
House Joint Resolution 16 will appear on the ballot as Amendment 2. The official ballot title for Constitutional Amendment 2 reads: "Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended so that it will be permissible to allow relevant evidence of prior criminal acts to be admissible in prosecutions for crimes of a sexual nature involving a victim under eighteen years of age?" "If more resources are needed to defend increased prosecutions additional costs to governmental entities could be at least $1.4 million annually, otherwise the fiscal impact is expected to be limited." This proposed change to our states constitution would allow evidence of prior criminal acts to be admissible in prosecutions for crimes of a sexual nature involving a victim under 18 years of age. I oppose making this change to the constitution because each case should be charged on its own merit. The introduction of prior charges or convictions is extremely prejudicial therefore I OPPOSE Amendment 2. House Joint Resolution 72 will appear on the ballot as Amendment 10. The official ballot title for Constitutional Amendment 10 reads: "Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to require the governor to pay the public debt, to prohibit the governor from relying on revenue from legislation not yet passed when proposing a budget, and to provide a legislative check on the governor’s decisions to restrict funding for education and other state services?" "State governmental entities expect no direct costs or savings. Local governmental entities expect an unknown fiscal impact." I OPPOSE Amendment 10 because it would not allow the governor to have discretion on how to manage finances and balance the budget that is delivered by the Legislature. We should fully fund education and stop cutting revenue so the governor does not have to cut necessary services and programs out of the budget. House Joint Resolution 90 will appear on the ballot as Amendment 6. The official ballot title for Constitutional Amendment 6 reads: "Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to permit voting in person or by mail for a period of six business days prior to and including the Wednesday before the Election Day in all general elections?" "State governmental entities estimated startup costs of about $2 million and costs to reimburse local election authorities of at least $100,000 per election. Local election authorities estimated higher reimbursable costs per election. Those costs will depend on the compensation, staffing, and, planning decisions of election authorities with the total costs being unknown." This amendment only allows for six days of early voting and does not include weekends. I OPPOSE this measure because it disenfranchises people who are eligible to vote, but have limitations on transportation and work flexibility. |
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| Open Enrollment in Health Insurance Marketplace | |||
This year, open enrollment, runs November 15, 2014 through February 15, 2015. There are several ways to learn more about the ACA or the federal Health Insurance Marketplace:
Cover Missouri: Helping Missourians Find Affordable Health Insurance Cover Missouri is a Coalition of community organizations from around Missouri that are dedicated to helping consumers understand their insurance options. Coalition members include Navigators and Certified Application Counselors (CAC), who can assist you to:
There are no fees to use the marketplace or to receive help from a Navigator or CAC. No one should solicit health coverage to you. Here is a checklist of information you will need when you sign up:
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| Medicare Open Enrollment | |||
For 2015 Medicare Part D Plans, open enrollment is October 15, 2014 through December 7, 2014. Medicare Part D plans chosen during that time frame will begin January 1, 2015.
During the open enrollment period, consumers can change their Part D drug coverage or Medicare Advantage plans. Medicare is not part of the federal health insurance marketplace under the Affordable Care Act.
Your coverage will begin either on the first day of your birth month or, when you join during or after your birth month, on the first day of the month after the month in which you join. |
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| Register to Vote | |||
Eligible Missouri citizens can register online (www.sos.mo.gov/elections), or at their local election authority and still be able to vote in the Nov. 4 general election. Mail-in registration must be postmarked by the end of the business day, while online registration must be completed by 5 p.m. The August primaries decided each party's nominee for office in legislative and congressional seats. One of those nominees will then be chosen as the new office holder in the Nov. 4 general election. Just one statewide position, state auditor, is on the ballot this year. Voting is one of the most important privileges we have in our country, and I urge you to make your voice heard regarding state government at the general election on Nov. 4. You can view a sample ballot by visiting www.stlelections.com. Visit www.sos.mo.gov/elections/2014ballot/ to learn more about what will be on the ballot this year. You can also visit, www.sos.mo.gov/elections/govotemissouri/, to learn more about voting in Missouri, including how to vote, www.sos.mo.gov/elections/goVoteMissouri/howtovote.aspx, and how you can become a poll worker, www.sos.mo.gov/pollworker/. |
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| Veto Session Wrap Up | |||
The Legislature convened on Sept. 10 for the annual veto session. This year, the second-highest number of bills received the governor’s veto. In addition to the 33 bills available for override consideration, the 55 line-items vetoed in the Fiscal Year 2015 budget resulted in a record number of items vetoed. This lead to a record number of veto overrides. Among the 125 total vetoed line-items, 47 were overrode, returning to the budget approximately $41 million. Some highlights of the budget for $3.5 million for a reading program specifically for provisionally and unaccredited school districts, $3 million for recruitment and training for teachers in academically deficient school districts and $150,000 for the Bright Futures Program. On a positive note, the following day the governor released $143 million in funds he had withheld from Missouri students and schools, including $43 million in performance funding for higher education and $100 million for the foundation formula for public schools. I cannot in good conscience allow my personal support of individual budget items to outweigh my duty to protect Missouri’s balanced budget. The state government of Missouri runs on a budget, which at the end of the day must be balanced. While I wholeheartedly support many of the underlying programs that were vetoed from the budget, I also support the governor’s hard decisions of how to balance this budget. These short-sighted veto overrides will leave our budget hundreds of millions of dollars out of balance while revenue collections are down. The General Assembly should have considered all of the governor’s line item vetoes as a whole in order to weigh the balance of all programs being cut. Instead, only the two budget chairmen determined the 50 or so politically expedient line-item vetoes that would be brought up to override. To solve one program’s shortfall, we must take from another. |
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| Promoting Seat Belt Safety | |||
Recent statistics show 70 percent of teens killed in Missouri traffic crashes in 2013 were not wearing a seat belt. These startling statistics are why I am encouraging parents to teach their children about the importance of buckling up. When I see statistics that state the majority of our children and teens are not being properly buckled up or are not buckling up at all, I can’t help but wonder how many of them would still be here today if they had just taken two seconds to buckle up properly. It’s heartbreaking. I encourage parents of younger children to educate themselves and start educating their children at a young age. A good educational tool for parents and educators is www.seatcheck.org/. On this website, adults can find a variety of information from child safety seat requirements to laws specific for each state. I have also encouraged local high schools to take part in this year’s “Battle of the Belt,” a statewide competition between Missouri high schools to promote the use of safety belts among teens. The Battle of the Belt challenge is a great tool to make safety belt usage and roadway safety education fun and engaging for our students. If the program can help save even one young life, then every school should participate. Sponsored by the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety, the challenge is comprised of two surprise seat belt checks at each participating high school to measure student safety belt use before and as part of an educational campaign to teach the importance of buckling up. Each school will also have a chance to enter a 30-second video spot aimed at promoting seat belt use among their peers. The competition will run from Oct. 1 to Nov. 19. Two regional awards of $500 each will be given to the schools achieving Highest Overall Seat Belt Use and Most Improved Seat Belt Use. Statewide recognition will be awarded with a banner for safety belt use rates of gold (99-100 percent), silver (95-98 percent) or bronze (91-94 percent). Finally, the top three winning video spots will receive additional funding to further seat belt education. |
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