Dear Neighbors,

We returned to Jefferson City this week after our annual legislative spring break with uncertainty about how our final eight weeks will shape up. With the Senate continuing its dysfunctional streak, the work done in the House before the break has a long way to go before session ends on May 13.
 
Some Senators have stalled proceedings since the session began in January— blocking the congressional redistricting bill and preventing the Senate from taking up significant amounts of legislation. During the first 10 weeks of session, the Senate only sent seven bills to us in the House, and five of those passed on the last day before the break. Even in the House our activity has been slow compared to previous years. Heading into the last day before the break, we had only sent 20 bills to the Senate, but with quick work on our final day, we nearly doubled that number to 38 bills.

The House and the Senate have granted final passage to only one bill – a $4.6 billion emergency supplementary appropriations bill that the governor signed into law in February. We are still waiting for the House Budget Committee to pass our $46.72 billion state operating budget for the 2023 fiscal year so that it can be brought to the full House for debate.

Despite the slow-moving first half of our legislative session, I am hopeful that the passage of the congressional maps in the Senate this week signals an end to partisan fighting and the movement of important legislation through the legislative process.

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

HB 2018- Requires election authorities to have at least one electronic voting machine for the blind or visually impaired.

HB 2019- Provides a state fund for public schools to hire a school nurse and a mental health professional.

HB 2020- Authorizes a tax credit for establishing an urban farm.

HB 2021- Requires that courts inform people of the rights and privileges they might lose if they accept a plea deal and plea guilty to a felony offense (i.e. the right to vote).

HB 2682 - Improves the Sexual Assault Survivors' Bill of Rights 

HB 2782- Ensures paperwork mailed recipients of the Blind Pension is accessible. 

HB 2783- Requires pharmacies to offer patients who are blind or visually impaired accessible prescription labels. 

HJR 101- Allows those who are legally incapacitated (i.e. have been appointed a power of attorney or are in a mental institution) to exercise their right to vote. This resolution would be subject to the approval of Missouri voters.  

On March 15 the Missouri Supreme Court unanimously upheld a lower court’s ruling that the existing Sexual Assault Survivors' Bill of Rights unconstitutionally infringes on the free speech rights of defense attorneys and the due process rights of criminal defendants.
 
When the existing version of the Survivors' Bill of Rights was passed in 2020, State Public Defender Mary Fox challenged the law on claims it required defense attorneys to provide certain information and disclosures to sexual assault victims that would put the attorney in the position of advocating for the victim, thus creating a conflict with their professional duty to represent their client. Before the bill was even passed, those who worked on the language knew that it would need to be improved. With this is mind, the legislature created the Rights of Victims of Sexual Assault Task Force, on which I have the pleasure of serving, to improve the Survivors' Bill of Rights and ensure that it is constitutional. 
 
Out of the task force came Senate Bill 775 and my House Bill 2682, which would largely repeal the version of the bill of rights invalidated by the court and replace it with new language that omits imposing any requirements on criminal defense attorneys. The bill would grant survivors the right to consult with a rape crisis center, have a sexual assault forensic examination, be provided a shower and change of clothing, and request that medical examinations or police interviews by conducted by a someone of the gender of the survivor’s choosing. The measure also contains other provisions relating to sexual offenses. Luckily, just one week after the Supreme Court overturned the current version of the Survivors' Bill of Rights, the Senate on March 22 granted first-round approval to the task force language. The bill should be sent over to the House soon and will hopefully make it to the Governor's desk before session ends on May 13. 

 
With just two weeks remaining for candidates to file for the August 2 party primary elections, a panel of state appellate judges on March 15 finalized the new state Senate districts that will be used for the next decade. Missouri’s legislative districts must be redrawn every 10 years to reflect population shifts under the most recent U.S. Census.
 
The Judicial Redistricting Commission took over the process in late January after a previous commission evenly split between Republican and Democratic party members deadlocked on a new plan for Missouri’s 34 Senate districts. The judicial commission consists of six judges of the state Court of Appeals appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court.
 
The judicial commission’s plan makes few radical changes and mostly just shifts the borders of the previous Senate map, which had been in use since 2012, to ensure the new districts have roughly equal populations under the 2020 Census and comply with other constitutional requirements. Senate Republicans currently hold a 24-10 advantage over Democrats.
 
Without new districts in place when candidate filing opened February 28, candidates filed under the outdated 2012 Senate map. Because district lines subsequently changed, some filed candidates now will live in different districts. Under the state constitution, however, the standard in-district residency requirement for candidates is relaxed this year since the new Senate map was finalized less than one year prior to the November 8 general election.
 
Because the four-year terms of senators are staggered, only the 17 even-numbered districts are on the ballot this year. The senators from the 17 odd-numbered districts will continue to serve from the 2012 version of those districts through 2024, when elections first will be held for those seats under the new map.
 
A separate bipartisan commission finalized Missouri’s 163 new House of Representatives districts in January. The General Assembly is responsible for redrawing the state’s eight congressional districts, but a redistricting bill stalled in the Senate. The candidate filing period closes at 5 p.m. on March 29.

A group of voters filed a lawsuit in Cole County Circuit Court on March 11 seeking to have Missouri’s current congressional districts declared unconstitutional since they are outdated and don’t have equal populations under the 2020 U.S. Census. The lawsuit comes as the Missouri Senate remains stalled on a plan for redrawing the state’s eight congressional districts even though candidate filing for the August 2 party primary elections is set to end March 29.
 
The House of Representatives passed a congressional redistricting bill on January 19 that would preserve the current 6-2 partisan split the state’s congressional delegation favoring Republicans.
However, a small group of hardline conservatives has blocked the bill in the Senate over their insistence on an aggressive gerrymander they say would produce a 7-1 Republican advantage. Republican leaders contend that plan instead would dilute the voting strength of solid GOP districts and potentially allow Democrats to gain congressional seats.
 
With no new districts in place, congressional candidates are filing under the current map enacted in 2011. However, since both the Missouri Constitution and federal law say congressional districts must be based on the most recent Census, the lawsuit contends the 2011 map – based on the 2010 Census – is unconstitutional and cannot be used for the 2022 elections.
 
Although the lawsuit, Howard v. Ashcroft, asks a state judge to draw new districts given the legislature’s failure to do so, it isn’t clear the legal authority for such action exists. While federal law allows a three-judge panel of federal judges to draw a state’s congressional districts if its legislature is unable to do so, there is no similar mechanism in Missouri law for judicial redistricting of congressional districts. Federal panels drew Missouri’s congressional districts in both 1972 and 1982.
 
With the legislature set to return from its annual spring recess on March 21, there is still time for lawmakers to send a congressional redistricting bill to the governor to be signed into law before candidate filing closes the following week. However, given the conservative hardliners resistance to date, that outcome is not expected.

As part of his political crusade to prevent Missouri’s public school districts from protecting students, faculty and staff against communicable disease, Attorney General Eric Schmitt on March 15 sued a private organization seeking to force it to turn over documents under the state’s Sunshine Law, which makes most government records publicly accessible.
 
Schmitt filed the lawsuit in Boone County Circuit Court seeking records from the Missouri School Boards’ Association, a group that lobbies on behalf of member public school districts. MSBA itself, however, is a private organization, not a government agency.
 
However, Schmitt contends MSBA is a “quasi-governmental body” under the Sunshine Law since it receives its funding from public school districts and performs a public function by providing statutorily mandated training for school board members. An attorney for MSBA told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that a Missouri attorney general has never before sued a private, non-for-profit entity for allegedly violating the Sunshine Law.
 
Schmitt is seeking records pertaining to advice MSBA gave to member districts regarding COVID-mitigation strategies, as well as anti-racism education. Schmitt has made opposing COVID restrictions a central focus of his U.S. Senate campaign. The case is State ex rel. Schmitt v. Missouri State School Boards Association.

Following months of inaction, the Senate voted 20-10 on March 24 in favor a plan to redraw Missouri’s eight congressional districts that appears to preserve the current partisan split of six Republicans and two Democrats. However, the bill faces an uncertain reception when it returns to the House of Representatives.
 
The Senate action came just five days before candidate filing for the Aug. 8 congressional primaries is set to close on March 29. However, there is still no guarantee new districts will be in place by that time as it is unclear if the House will accept the Senate’s version. Although the Senate maintained the same partisan split, its district boundaries are radically different from those the House approved in January.
 
Even if the House accepts the Senate version, when the redistricting measure, House Bill 2117, can take legal effect in time remains in question since bills passed during the regular legislative session normally take effect August 28. In this case that would be nearly four weeks after the primary. Although the Senate voted 30-2 to attach an emergency clause allowing the bill to become law immediately upon being signed by the governor, the House failed to do so when originally approved the bill. The House will have a chance to reconsider the emergency clause, but approval requires a two-thirds supermajority, which the House fell 14 votes short of achieving on its previous vote.
 
The redistricting process had stalled over the insistence of small group of hardline conservative senators on carving up a safe Democratic seat in Kansas City to create what they claimed would be a 7-1 partisan split favoring the GOP. Mainstream Senate Republicans contended that plan actually would have diluted GOP voting strength to make it possible for Democrats to gain congressional seats. Prior to approving HB 2117, the Senate voted 7-22 to reject the hardliners’ proposal.
 
Since both chambers have adjourned for the weekend, the earliest the redistricting bill can win final approval is March 28. If the House refuses to accept the Senate version, the two chambers can try to negotiate a compromise bill. If lawmakers are unable to agree, the possibility of a court drawing Missouri’s new congressional districts, as happened in 1972 and 1982, becomes increasingly likely.

The House of Representatives voted 115-35 on March 23 to pass a bill seeking to legalize sports wagering in Missouri. The measure now heads to the Senate, where similar legislation in recent years has bogged down over unsuccessful efforts to add provisions to crack down on the proliferation of illegal slot machines.
 
Under the Missouri Constitution, lawmakers have no authority to legalize games of chance, which is why previous efforts to legalize various forms of gambling, such as charity bingo, the state lottery and casinos, have been done by voter-approved constitutional amendment. However, House Bill 2502 seeks to get around the constitutional prohibition by defining wagering on athletic competitions as a “game of skill.” But whether that maneuver can survive court scrutiny if challenged remains to be seen.
 
HB 2502 would authorize sports wagering through Missouri’s 13 casinos and also allow betting through mobile applications. The measure would levy an 8 percent tax on a licensed sports book’s gross recipients. The Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas Chiefs, St. Louis City Soccer Club and the National Hockey League Players Association all testified in favor of the bill before a House committee.

Join the Kansas City Health Department for an online webinar about vaccines on March 30^th at 10 am! During this 1-hour webinar you will learn answers to the most common COVID-19 vaccine questions and tips for talking about vaccines with your loved ones. This will include information on:
 
• How COVID-19 vaccines work in your body
• How COVID-19 vaccines were made
• Answers to the most common vaccine questions and myths
 
Please register for the online event here.
 
This training is ideal for any professional providing health information to the general public or for anyone interested in learning more about the COVID-19 vaccines. It is not required to have attended prior trainings in the series to join.

The Department of Social Services has begun accepting applications for the Low-Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP), a new program that may be able to help with a one-time payment for water and/or wastewater bills. The maximum benefit amount available is $750.
LIHWAP can help with:

Am I eligible?
You may be eligible for help if you: 

You can also get the flu shot at the same time you receive the COVID-19 booster shot. Find a flu shot near you at MOStopsFlu.com. 

Truman Medical Center is offering walk-in vaccinations at their 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. 

ALL Missourians are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and many are eligible to receive a booster. If you have not been vaccinated, I encourage you to visit the COVID-19 map to find a vaccination site near you. The following places are currently offering vaccines in Kansas City: 

Anyone in need of a COVID-19 vaccine can receive one for FREE from KC CARE Health Center at the following Kansas City Public Library locations:

Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St.

Wednesdays, 2 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Waldo Branch, 201 E. 75^th St.

Thursdays, Noon - 6 p.m.
North-East Branch, 6000 Wilson Ave.

Anyone hoping to get a vaccine can walk in to one of the Library clinic sessions as long as supplies last. No registration is required. Available for ages 12 and older. There is no cost to get the vaccine -- it is completely free.

The full schedule of vaccine clinics at Library locations can be found on the Library’s online calendar.