Representative Yolanda Young's Newsletter

Dear Neighbors,

Each year the Kansas City Public School District awards teachers in recognition of their outstanding service to our children and communities. Teachers who receive an award at the school level will be in the running for recognition district-wide.  This week, it was my honor to present celebratory resolutions to two teachers in District 22.

Pre-K teacher Montoya Adams (pictured below with myself and principal Romanda Franklin-Hamilton) was named the 2021 Teacher of the Year by Richardson Early Learning Center. Ms. Adams was praised for her incredible patience with her students and her ability to communicate with them in sign language. Congratulations Ms. Adams! 

First grade teacher Lisa Yroz (pictured below with myself and principal Patricia Hayes) was named the 2021 Teacher of the Year by George Melcher Elementary School. In her 20 years in education, Ms. Yroz has touched the lives of countless students with her endless positive attitude and genuine interest in all aspects of student success. Congratulations Ms. Yroz! 

Finally, I have had several constituents ask me if we would be called back for a special session. It's possible that the governor might call us back this month for the purpose of passing legislation to renew the federal reimbursement allowance. However, we have not had a confirmation on that at this point. We will keep you updated if that occurs. 

Remember, we are always here to help you with anything you may need. For assistance, call my office at (573) 751-3129 or email me at yolanda.young@house.mo.gov. 

Yours in Service,

Yolanda Young

We are only two weeks away from our second town hall event. This town hall will be hosted in District 22 at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Center at 1pm on June 26. We will have a virtual option, but will also be able to accommodate limited in-person attendance. To reserve your seat in-person email my assistant at kaylee.bauer@house.mo.gov. 

We will be reflecting on the 2021 legislative session and discussing bills that will likely impact you the most. We have also invited Major Kari Thompson of the KCPD to discuss policing in our city and how to address crime in our communities. 

At this event, I will have the opportunity to present a resolution to an outstanding citizen in our district— someone who is putting in the work to make our community the best it can be. If you know someone who should be recognized for their work in our community, please complete this form to nominate them for the District 22 Outstanding Citizen Award.

A three-judge panel of the 8^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on June 9 upheld a federal district judge’s injunction blocking enforcement of a 2019 Missouri law criminalizing most abortions performed after eight weeks of gestation, with no exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
 
The appellate panel ruled the injunction is appropriate since the law runs afoul of U.S. Supreme Court precedent holding that women have a constitutional right to terminate pregnancy prior to the point of fetal viability, which typically is around 24 to 28 weeks. At eight weeks, women often are unaware they are pregnant.
 
However, enacting abortion restrictions that clearly violate current constitutional standards was the point of the exercise when the Missouri General Assembly passed the challenged law, House Bill 126, two years ago. Missouri is one of several Republican-dominated states to enact highly restrictive abortion laws with the hope of giving the U.S. Supreme Court the opportunity to overturn its landmark 1973 decision Roe v. Wade, which first recognized the constitutional right to abortion.
 
Last month, the federal high court agreed to hear Mississippi’s appeal of lower court rulings declaring unconstitutional that state’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks. The decision to take up the case during its next term is seen as a sign the court’s 6-3 conservative majority could be poised to end protections for abortion rights.

By a 5-2 vote, the Missouri Supreme Court on June 1 upheld a lower court’s decision striking down a 2018 state law pushed by some lawmakers to weaken labor unions that represent government workers by making it more difficult for them to operate. The law had been on hold since its enactment.
 
At issue is House Bill 1413, which sought to impose new legal hurdles for public-sector unions to collect dues from members, require unions to recertify every three years and prohibit workers from receiving paid time off to conduct union business. However, the bill exempted unions representing police, firefighters, corrections employees and first responders from the new rules.
 
Both the lower court and the Supreme Court majority determined there was no rational basis for the treating public safety unions differently than those representing other government workers. As a result, HB 1413 violates state constitutional provisions providing for equal protection under the law and guaranteeing the collective bargaining rights of workers. The judges further ruled the unconstitutional exemption couldn’t be severed from the law since doing so would apply its restrictions to public safety unions, which the legislature specifically intended to avoid.

The two dissenting judges said the legislature did have a rational basis for treating public safety workers differently due to the nature of their work and would have upheld the law. The majority opinion said the dissenters’ argument failed because HB 1413 discriminates not on the type of job performed but on the type of union someone belongs to. The case is Missouri National Education Association, et al., v. Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, et al.

A nearly decade-old class-action lawsuit filed by Missouri prison guards seeking back pay for mandatory duties they were required to perform without pay before and after shifts will continue a while longer after the Missouri Supreme Court on June 1 vacated a $113.7 million judgment in the guards’ favor and sent the case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
 
Although the unanimous Supreme Court largely ruled in the guards’ favor, it said the trial judge erred in concluding that guards are entitled to compensation for all pre- and post-shift duties. The high court remanded the case, which was originally filed in 2012, to a Cole County judge to determine which specific duties are compensable and recalculate the amount of damages the guards are owed accordingly.
 
The Supreme Court issued its ruling more than 13 months after hearing oral arguments in the case, making an unusually long delay for the court to reach a decision. The case is Thomas Hootselle Jr., et al., v. Missouri Department of Corrections.

The Missouri Supreme Court on June 1 unanimously ruled that a state law imposing a $3 surcharge on all civil and criminal cases, including traffic violations, to help fund pensions for retired sheriffs is unconstitutional. The case, Daven Fowler v. Missouri Sheriffs’ Retirement System, returns to a lower court for further proceedings but could have implications regarding the validity of many of the various fees Missouri law levies on litigants and criminal defendants.
 
In an opinion written by Judge Zel Fischer the court said the fee violates a state constitutional provision that says “justice shall be administered without sale.” Citing a 1986 precedent holding that court fees must to “reasonably related” to the cost of judicial operations to withstand constitutional muster, the court said the fee currently at issue didn’t meet that standard because the proceeds are “used to enhance the compensation of executive department officials – retired county sheriffs.”

Missouri Department of Natural Resources Director Carol Comer has died, Governor Parson announced on June 9. The cause of death and related details were not announced, but The Associated Press reported that she had been undergoing treatment for cancer in recent years. The AP said she was 54 years old.
 
“We are greatly saddened and heartbroken to hear of Director Comer’s passing,” Parson said in a statement. “Carol was an extremely talented and accomplished leader, and the entire state of Missouri grieves alongside her friends and family. Carol brought expertise, energy, and an enthusiastic smile to every project, and she will be deeply missed among our cabinet and in the thousands of lives that she touched.”
 
Comer was appointed to lead DNR in January 2017 by then-Gov. Eric Greitens and stayed on after Parson became governor the following year. Before coming to Missouri, she served as commissioner of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
 

Missouri will finally end its dubious distinction as the only state in the nation without a state prescription drug monitoring program to help flag and prevent opioid abuse under a bill Governor Parson signed into law on June 7.
 
Lawmakers worked for nearly a decade to enact PDMP legislation before finally achieving success in the legislative session that ended in May. Senate Bill 63 won final approval on votes of 20-12 in the Senate and 91-64 in the House of Representatives. The bill will take effect Aug. 28 and replace a regional a PDMP network started by St. Louis County several years ago in response to the legislature’s inaction that ultimately grew to encompass about 90 percent of Missouri’s population.

Heading into the final month of FY 2021, net state general revenue collections for the year were up 24.3 percent compared to the first 11 months of FY 2020, going from $8.06 billion last year to $10.02 billion this year. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the delay of last year’s tax filing deadline from the last quarter of FY 2020 to the first month of FY 2021, year-to-date revenue figures for FY 2021 are inflated.
 
Net general revenue collections for May 2021 increased 128.3 percent compared to those for May 2020, going from $533.5 million last year to $.122 billion this year. That growth also is inflated since this year’s tax filing deadline was pushed from April 15 to May 15, resulting in substantially more revenue being collected this May than normally would be the case.

Truman Medical Center is now offering walk-in vaccinations at their our two hospital campuses (2211 Charlotte and 7900 Lee’s Summit Road) 7am to 2pm Monday through Friday.  In addition, you can schedule a vaccine at www.trumed.org or by calling 816-404-CARE. 

Beginning April 9, ALL Missourians will be eligible to receive the vaccine. If you are interested in receiving the vaccine when it become available, I encourage you to be put on the wait-list at any of the locations listed below. 

If you have not been able to get vaccinated, I encourage you to visit the COVID-19 map to find a vaccination site near you. I have been told that the following places are currently offering vaccines in Kansas City: 

If you register at more than one location, be sure to call to remove your name from other lists and free your spot for someone else who wants the vaccine.