Jun 06

The Impact of 2014’s Legislative Session and Will Missouri Expand Medicaid in 2015?

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June 6, 2014


by Mike Ferguson

(St. Charles, MO) – The regular session may be over for Missouri lawmakers but the politics and the decisions that impact you are not.

On “Missouri Viewpoints”, Speaker of the House Tim Jones (R) and State Senator Scott Sifton (D) look back at the now-completed Legislative Session and look ahead to the upcoming veto session.

Jones calls the 2014 effort “…a significant, substantive session where we solved some major issues and challenges facing Missouri.”

To him, the crowning achievement was overriding Governor Jay Nixon’s veto and putting a tax cut in place. If the state’s economy hits specific benchmarks, the tax cuts will be phased in starting in 2017.

Both Jones and Sifton say one of the most controversial issues of 2013 and 2014 will likely return for debate next year as well. That’s the push to take federal money and expand Medicaid coverage in Missouri as part of the Affordable Care Act (also known as “ObamaCare”).

There was a very small amount of Republican support for some expansion this year although the vast majority of Republicans still oppose the idea. To Sifton, that’s enough to see momentum in the effort.

MWSnap186“I think you saw the beginnings of bipartisan efforts to get the job done on Medicaid expansion.”

Jones disagrees. While he won’t be in the Legislature after this year due to term limits, he does not believe expansion will happen in 2015. He does think Medicaid will be addressed in another way, though.

“I think you’re going to see a Medicaid reform bill first.”

The Speaker points out that about one in five Missourians is currently either already on Medicaid or is eligible for Medicaid as things stand now. He says tackling problems within the system would remove from the rolls those who should not be on the system, making room for those who should.

MWSnap185“Instead of just throwing more people on a state subsidized free health care system, we need to be making sure that the right people are in that system. When you talk to the health care providers, they tell you the level of fraud, waste and abuse is astronomical.”

While Sifton wants to see expansion as soon as possible, he agrees that some reform measures will have to be addressed before there’s much chance of the state increasing eligibility.

“I think we recognized from the very beginning that simply increasing the eligibility threshold to 138% [of the national poverty level] without trying to reform Medicaid or implement other cost controls, it’s just not realistic.”

While Republicans are generally content to take a measured approach and are in no hurry to deal with the expansion proposal, Sifton believes it is an urgent issue that has a larger impact on the state.

“Missouri hospitals are losing five million dollars a day because of the effect of the Affordable Care Act, absent Medicaid expansion and that’s a cost our health care system simply can’t bear. It’s bad for patients, it’s bad for hospitals and it’s bad for everybody.”

On the web:

Speaker of the House Tim Jones: www.TimWJones.com

Senator Scott SIfton: www.ScottSifton.com

Permanent link to this article: http://americanviewpoints.tv/the-impact-of-2014s-legislative-session-and-will-missouri-expand-medicaid-in-2015/

May 30

Teach Great Initiative: Improving Public Education or Attacking Missouri’s Teachers?

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May 30, 2014

by Mike Ferguson

(St. Charles, MO) – Among the most crucial decisions that affect the education of children is who to place and leave in the classroom.

A proposed ballot measure in Missouri could change how local school districts make that decision.

It’s called the “Teach Great Initiative” and supporters hope to have it on the ballot later this year. They have turned in the signatures from their petition drive, which are now being reviewed by the Secretary of State’s office.

The Initiative is a proposed amendment to the state constitution.

Kate Casas is the Executive Director of the Children’s Education Council of Missouri, which supports the idea. On “Missouri Viewpoints”, she explains what the measure would change if approved by voters.

MWSnap183“It requires that teachers be evaluated, in part, on student academic progress…Second, it would protect the right [of] teachers to collectively bargain for their salaries and benefits. Third, it would ensure that when layoff decisions are made, those evaluations are used and, fourth, it would allow for up to three year contracts.”

In other words, it would outlaw what critics call the last-in, last-out approach to layoffs that favor seniority over merit. It would also eliminate public school teacher tenure as we know it in Missouri, limiting every teacher contract to that three years or less.

Carl Peterson is on the Board of Directors of Missouri Public School Advocates, which opposes the measure. He believes the requirement to evaluate teachers based on student performance is unfair.

MWSnap184“It just makes it almost impossible for you to evaluate based upon somebody’s test grade. Let’s face it; test grades boil down to how well the student performs, not how well the teacher [does].”

Peterson is the former president of the Ferguson-Florissant School Board. Casas is a former teacher in the St. Louis Public School system.

Among the most contentious debates surrounding the initiative is the one limiting teacher contracts. Generally, a public school teacher becomes tenured after five consecutive years of employment in the same district now. The American Federation of Teachers – Missouri describes that as being “considered a ‘permanent teacher’ and is employed pursuant to an indefinite contract that continues from year to year.”

Teacher tenure is often criticized as providing job security for teachers solely based on seniority, not based on who are the most effective in the classroom. Casas believes the “permanent teacher” status needs to end in the state.

“There’s really no profession where anybody has an indefinite contract, and so we think three years is a really fair amount of time to be able to evaluate how well teachers are performing.”

Peterson thinks the criticism of tenure is overblown.

“Nobody signs a contract where you can’t get rid of an employee for cause. That has always been there.”

He says the effort distracts from more pressing education issues like class size, funding and access to preschool education.

Supporters of the initiative say they turned in over 275,000 signatures earlier this month. The final confirmation of the signatures and the qualification of the proposed amendment for the statewide ballot could come as late as August.

On the web:

“Teach Great Initiative” website: http://www.teachgreat.org/

Children’s Education Council of Missouri: http://www.cec-mo.org/

Missouri Public School Advocates: http://mopublicschooladvocates.org/

AFT-MO’s Tenure Description: http://mo.aft.org/resources/know-your-rights-part-1-states-teacher-tenure-law

Permanent link to this article: http://americanviewpoints.tv/teach-great-initiative-improving-public-education-or-attacking-missouris-teachers/

May 23

Volunteers: An Important Part of Missouri Communities

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May 23, 2014

by Mike Ferguson

(St. Charles, MO) – ROI. In business terms, that means “Return On Investment” or, in everyday terms, the profit you get back from spending something.

Money isn’t the only thing that can be spent and both corporate and nonprofit organizations in Missouri hope you’ll spend a little more this year. Specifically, they encourage us all to spend more time and effort in volunteering.

On “Missouri Viewpoints”, AT&T Missouri* President John Sondag explains why his company – and many others – organize volunteer efforts in the workplace.

MWSnap181“It’s really two-fold for us. It is employee involvement and morale and the other thing is, it’s giving back and trying to help our community. Because if the community does well, all businesses will do well.”

Sondag says the role of business in local communities has changed an now includes an expectation of giving to charitable and community causes in addition to selling products and services. He’s fine with that and calls volunteering part of his company’s “corporate DNA”.

Last year, AT&T employees donated over 290,000 hours of volunteer work in communities across the nation.

That may be good public relations and good business but there’s also something in it for the volunteer, even if you aren’t working right now.

With the national and state economy still struggling in places, volunteering can be a way to keep your resume fresh, keep skills sharp and even explore new career options. There’s no shortage of nonprofits that need volunteers and the work they need done ranges from warehouse stocking, cleaning and other blue-collar type of work to white-collar tasks including data entry, office management, computer programming and social media.

According to Sondag, working even without pay through volunteering is a good way for the unemployed to improve their chances of landing the job they really want.

“I would encourage them to get involved with a charitable organization so when they’re out looking they are not only honing their skills by working, they are also expanding who they know and that expands the opportunity to meet someone who can hire them.”

The United Way’s Katelind Rohde agrees and points out that volunteering isn’t just a way to keep a resume fresh, it can also be a way to get one started for young people who are new to the workforce.

MWSnap182“If you’re looking to build a new skill or if you’re just wanting to see what’s out there, maybe you’re young and in high school and you’re trying to explore what are the different careers out there, you go and volunteer and get a taste for what’s out there.”

Of course, volunteering doesn’t have to be about your personal benefit, although both Sondag and Rohde say there is nothing wrong about getting something back in terms of experience and connections. The bottom line is that you help the bottom line of nonprofit, charitable efforts when you volunteer.

That typically means you help someone’s life improve through kindness.

Rohde works in one of the United Way’s Volunteer Centers and believes the most effective way to donate your time is to get involved where you have an interest already.

“Think about what [you’re] passionate about, so whether that’s working with children or seniors, you can find that and find your passion.”

Hundreds of nonprofit organizations across the state need volunteers. The right fit for those needs could be a high school student who wants something to do over the summer (and get a good letter of recommendation for a future job application), a church group looking for a way to minister to others or a retiree who isn’t done using the skills they have sharpened over their career.

On the web:

AT&T: www.ATT.com

United Way’s Volunteer Website: www.MOVolunteer.org

* AT&T Missouri is a sponsor of “Missouri Viewpoints”

Permanent link to this article: http://americanviewpoints.tv/volunteers-an-important-part-of-missouri-communities/

May 16

Tax Cuts Are Coming To Missouri. What’s Next?

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May 16, 2014

by Mike Ferguson

(St. Charles, MO) – Republicans in the State Legislature wanted it, Governor Nixon said “no” and then lawmakers did it anyway.

Like it or not, the wheels are in motion for an across-the-board tax cut for individuals, families and businesses in Missouri. That is the result of the Legislature’s override of a Nixon veto of that plan.

Some estimates put the tax cuts around $600 million and opponents say over $200 million of that cost could impact public schools. Supporters think tax revenue collections will actually increase as a result of increased economic activity and sales tax collections that come from a more business-friendly approach to policy.

On “Missouri Viewpoints”, former Democratic State Representative Gary Sharpe warned about what he believes will be the impact on state government and, as a result, many Missourians.

“Missouri is one of the low tax states in the nation at the present time and their network of state services, their safety net, is really being stretched extremely tight at the present time.”

Missouri Republican Chairman Ed Martin calls the push for tax cuts both a philosophical issue and an opportunity to make government better.

MWSnap178“People and businesses can do better with their money than government can. This is a sort of distinct debate between the more liberal party, the Democratic Party, and the Republican Party.”

Martin thinks the issue is economic but also a matter of keeping government lean and focused.

“You don’t have to go very far to see inefficiency, ineffective and, maybe more important, priorities that are off base [in government]. I would actually submit to you that in a tough economy, I think what we need to do is examine our priorities.”

Sharpe, who is now the president of Missouri Public School Advocates isn’t buying the economic arguments and doesn’t believe the tax cuts are a priority for Missourians in the first place.

MWSnap179“I’ve never had anybody on the street or otherwise come up and say ‘You know, I just really have to have a state tax cut.”

He says if the state reduces funding to local public schools or does not keep up with increased costs at the local level, local districts may turn to higher property taxes to make up the difference.

The cuts are set to start phasing into place in 2017 and will do so over five years. Tax revenue collections will have to hit specific benchmarks for the phases to continue. Republicans, including Martin, see this as a safety net for state coffers and a way to boost the state’s economy.

“We know the economy is helped, it is spurred, by more money being spent by people whether it’s buying clothes and food or buying other stuff, whatever it is. It’s spurred by that and we need to get something going in Missouri.”

While Sharpe disagrees with the economic theory, he wants lawmakers to look for ways to shore up what he fears will be net losses to the state and, as a result, to education and social services.

The next round of discussion, in his view, should include reforming the tax credit system.

“Not all tax credits are bad but a lot of those tax credits are for people who don’t need them and it’s unfair to other business people.”

Criticisms of the size and scope of tax credits in the state have come from both sides of the political aisle in recent years.

On the web:

Missouri Republican Party: www.MOGOP.org

Missouri Public School Advocates: www.MOPublicSchoolAdvocates.org

* Note: this program was recorded as the State House of Representatives was preparing to vote on the override of Governor Nixon’s veto.

Permanent link to this article: http://americanviewpoints.tv/tax-cuts-are-coming-to-missouri-whats-next/

May 08

Are Gay Rights Gaining Ground In Missouri?

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May 8, 2014


by Mike Ferguson

(St. Charles, MO) – Many political pundits and journalists consider Missouri to be a state that’s becoming more “red” – conservative – with each passing election these days but that’s not stopping efforts on the key liberal issues of gay rights.

One of those efforts is underway in the State Legislature and the other in the courts.

The “Missouri Nondiscrimination Act” is the attempt to include sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s protected categories when it comes to employment, housing and public accommodations.

The bill is designed to extend the protections into the private sector.

It’s not a new proposal and it didn’t have much of a chance to make it past the Republican-dominated Legislature this year.

It did get a committee hearing this year, though, and that’s a step farther than lawmakers took with it in 2013. Supporters of the bill are not conceding defeat on the issue.

On their website, PROMO – the state’s largest gay rights organization – makes it clear that this is a long-term debate.

The group’s page dedicated to the issue says “This is not an issue that is won in a single year, but a multi-year strategy of working at the local level, while systematically achieving benchmark progress year over year in the legislature.”

It’s also a clash of freedoms, depending on who you ask.

Jeffrey Mittman is the Executive Director of the ACLU of Missouri, which supports the bill.

MWSnap176“What people don’t realize is it is absolutely legal here in the State of Missouri for a hotel to say ‘You can’t rent a room here, you’re lesbian.’ It is absolutely legal under current law for an employer to say ‘No need to apply, we don’t hire gays.'”

But what about the rights of the business owner to choose which business transactions to accept or decline? The Missouri Torch’s owner and publisher, Duane Lester, believes there is another angle to consider.

“What this whole issue boils down to is, you have a business owner who starts their business, they invest their capitol, they invest their time – they invest time away from their families – into this business. Does that person then have the right to say who he hires and who he fires and who he keeps employed.

“Basically, we’re talking about the freedom of association.”

The Missouri Torch is one of Missouri’s leading conservative websites.

Mittman finds the argument interesting but disagrees.

“…government’s role is to make the rules so that there’s an even playing field. Without that government standard, we know that discrimination does happen.”

Also on the political radar of both LGBT activists and their opponents is a recent lawsuit filed by the ACLU in Jackson County. That filing is to challenge the part of Missouri’s constitution that requires the state to recognize only marriages between one man and one woman.

Voters approved that part of the state constitution in 2004 with over 70% of the vote.

Mittman says the lawsuit seeks to require Missouri to recognize same-sex marriages from other states.

This issue is not as cut and dry along party lines as it used to be, though. An active and often younger faction of the Republican Party is more libertarian than traditional conservative on the issue, including Lester.

Without commenting on what his view of homosexual marriage is, he sees it as another area to debate the role and size of government.MWSnap177

“When I got married, I remember the minister saying ‘By the power vested in me by the State of Missouri, I name you man and wife.’

“The power to name [us] man and wife comes from God, not the State of Missouri. We’ve accepted the idea that our rights come from government.”

Lester says he’d like to see the government have little or no role when it comes to marriage.

“What that basically is, is a consenting adult and another consenting adult going before their deity of choice and saying ‘we choose to live together and we make this bond in front of you and with you.’ Why do we need a government involved in that ceremony at all?”

That view does not appear to be the predominant one within the Republican Party and conservative circles in general.

The next major activity in the legal process of the ACLU’s lawsuit is expected to happen this fall, likely in September, according to Mittman.

Note: The three largest and most active faith-based conservative groups in Missouri which oppose legalizing gay marriage and typically oppose gay-rights measures in general were contacted and invited to be on this week’s program. All three were contacted at least twice. All three either directly declined the invitation or chose not to respond.

On the web:

PROMO’s page on the Missouri Nondiscrimination Act: http://promoonline.org/issues/nondiscrimination.html

ACLU of Missouri: http://www.aclu-mo.org/

The Missouri Torch: http://www.TheMissouriTorch.com

Permanent link to this article: http://americanviewpoints.tv/are-gay-rights-gaining-ground-in-missouri/

May 02

The Impact of a Missouri Man’s Hate and Violence

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May 2, 2014


by Mike Ferguson

(St. Charles, MO) – The dust has settled, what was a crime scene is back to normal and the victims have been laid to rest.

But the impact of what prosecutors say is a hate-based rampage continues.

A few weeks ago, according to investigators, a white supremacist from southwest Missouri known as Glenn Miller attacked people at two Jewish Community facilities in Overland Park, Kansas. When the shots were finished and Miller under arrest, three people had been killed.

On “Missouri Viewpoints”, Karen Aroesty from the Anti Defamation League says putting Miller behind bars doesn’t lessen the pain of the attacks on another Jewish target.

MWSnap174“It’s palpable, the fear factor. ‘Oh, no, it’s happened again.’ Why do we continually end up being targets?”

Aroesty says progress is being made in fighting back against hate-based crimes and thinking but there’s more to be done.

“If we, very broadly in this country, increased the honesty in which we talk about the bias that we all have that we created anti-bias education as a key aspect of reading, writing and arithmetic, you would start to see -over time – a shift.”

Aroesty says the way to address a societal issue like racism and anti-Semitism begins with individual attitude checks and personal conversations.

Those conversations can be with anyone, no matter how young.

Dr. Bart Andrews from Behaviors Health Response recommends that parents not allow their children to get all the information from the TV and social media. It’s better for them to get it from parents, even if they don’t understand what’s happening.

Andrews says children begin learning from and about tragic news before the first word of a conversation is uttered.

MWSnap175“I think a lot of times we as parents are concerned that we’re going to do the wrong thing or say the wrong thing. One of the things that’s important is that you’re aware that whatever reaction you have will impact your child.”

His recommendation, depending on the age and maturity of your child, is to let them lead the discussion by finding out what questions they have and what they are worried or confused about when it comes to what they see and hear.

For young children who may not understand the complexities involved with hate-based crimes, they may just want to know that they are safe. Andrews says that’s fine and may be enough until the child gets older.

On the web:

Anti Defamation League: www.ADL.org

Behavioral Health Response: www.BHRStl.org

Permanent link to this article: http://americanviewpoints.tv/the-impact-of-a-missouri-mans-hate-and-violence/

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