Representative Yolanda Young's Newsletter

Dear Neighbors,

This morning I had the opportunity to host a virtual story time with the kindergarten and first grade students at Genesis School here in District 22. Thanks to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University (who sent me the book), I was able to read the students Sofia Valdez, Future Prez by Andrea Beaty. This story is about a second-grade girl who identifies a problem in her community and works to solve it, despite being told by the adults around that she's too young. I am so grateful to have been able to read to these students and answer their questions about running for office. I love being able to connect with young people in our community and I can't wait until we can host story time in person! 

The book was donated to the Genesis School library for the students to enjoy. 

In Honor of National Animal Therapy Day on April 30, the Capitol was visited by two therapy horses, Dez and Blue. These horses are in training to participate in the Just Say WHOA to bullying program through Hoofprints on My Heart, here in Missouri. The WHOA (We Help One Another) program is designed to use interactions from horses to stop bullying and reduce the toll it takes on people when it does occur. I learned at this event that horses are particularly good at learning from human behavior and can adapt, much like a dog, to meet a human's social, emotional, and physical needs. Miniature horses can be trained to work just like service dogs to support those who have disabilities.  

Remember, my office is here to help you. If you or someone you know needs any assistance, please don't hesitate to call my office at (573) 751-3129.

Yours in Service,

Yolanda Young

This week I had the opportunity to attend a rally to support the funding of Medicaid expansion. The rally was hosted by Missourians who gathered at our Capitol from across the state to encourage the Senate to fund Medicaid. Many of those on the House and Senate budget committees spoke about the importance of fully funding Medicaid expansion and pointed to the hundreds of millions of extra state and federal dollars that we currently have available to fund Medicaid expansion. 

Shortly after the rally, the Senate voted 14-20 to defeat efforts to fully fund Missouri’s Medicaid program in the state operating budget for the 2022 fiscal year. Because the House of Representatives also excluded full Medicaid funding from its version of the budget, the issue isn’t open for reconsideration when the two chambers negotiate the final appropriations bills in the coming days.
 
Under a constitutional amendment Missouri voters approved last year, every Missourian with an income at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level will be eligible for Medicaid as of July 1, which also is the first day of FY 2022. However, without full funding to cover the additional recipients, the program could exhaust its spending authority well before the end of the fiscal year. An estimated 275,000 additional Missourians will be eligible for the program.
 
Under the federal Affordable Care Act, the federal government will pay 90 percent of the cost of expansion, or about $1.4 billion for FY 2022. In addition, implementing expansion will secure Missouri an additional $1.5 billion under the most recently passed COVID-19 relief bill. Such a large influx of spending is expected to create tens of thousands of jobs and provide a massive stimulus to the state’s economy. Only four majority Republicans joined the Senate’s 10 Democrats in voting for full Medicaid funding and the economic benefits that would follow.
 
Governor Parson’s administration has already submitted its plan for implementing expansion to the federal government. Failure to follow the plan at this point could result in Missouri losing the billions of dollars in federal Medicaid funding the state already receives.
 
House and Senate negotiating teams could begin hammering out the final version of the 13 appropriations bills that make up the state operating budget as early as May 3. Lawmakers must grant final passage to the bills by no later than May 7 or the budget process would be required to start over in a special session this summer.
 

The House Rules-Legislative Oversight Committee voted 7-3 on April 26 to reject a Senate bill seeking to provide businesses and religious organizations with legal immunity from most lawsuits related to COVID-19. Such protections are a top priority of Governor Parson, who in January called on lawmakers to make it the first bill sent to him this year after they declined to pass similar legislation in 2020.
 
Senate Bill 51’s failure came as a surprise since, as a procedural committee, passage through it usually is a formality. The House Special Committee on Litigation Reform had previously approved the bill in March. The Senate sent it to the House in February by a vote of 20-13.
 
Missouri’s major business groups, with Parson’s backing, began seeking liability protections shortly after the pandemic began more than a year ago. Lawmakers took a pass on addressing during the 2020 regular legislative session last spring and again during a special session in December. To date, it doesn’t appear any lawsuits have been filed in Missouri relating to COVID-19 exposure. Critics say proponents are using the pandemic as cover to provide businesses with more general legal protections.
 
Although the bill’s defeat in committee is a setback, supporters are expected to attempt to attach it to other bills that are farther along in the process. The 2021 legislature session ends May 14.

Missouri will retain eight seats in Congress for the next decade according to national apportionment data released on April 26 based on the results of the 2020 U.S. Census. Congress has 435 voting members with every state entitled to at least one representative and the remainder distributed based on each state’s population.
 
Texas will pick up two congressional seats, while Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon each will gain one. Those redistributed seats will come from seven states – California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The redistribution will take effect for the 2022 congressional elections, with those elected that year taking their seats in January 2023.
 
By now, Missouri and other states normally would be deep into the process of redrawing congressional district lines to reflect population shifts over the past decade. However, because the detailed Census data necessary for redistricting isn’t expected to be available until September, Missouri lawmakers likely won’t take on congressional redistricting until a special legislative session at the end of the year.
 
The size of Missouri’s current congressional delegation is half of what it was a century ago. The state topped out at 16 congressional seats in 1903 but slipped by three seats to 13 in 1933. Missouri lost two more seats in 1953, for 11 total, and then dipped to 10 seats in 1963. The state didn’t lose another seat until the 1983 and continued with nine members of Congress until its most recent loss of a seat in 2013 to create its current eight-member delegation.
 
According to the Census, Missouri’s population stood at 6,160,281 as of April 1, 2020. That’s an increase of just 2.48 percent from the state’s 2010 population of 6,011,478. After congressional redistricting, each of Missouri eight districts will contain about 770,035 residents.

The House of Representatives on April 28 granted preliminary approval to legislation that would prohibit police from using respiratory chokeholds, except in situations where the use of deadly force is warranted. A second vote is required to advance the bill to the Senate.
 
House Bill 876 also includes a controversial provision creating a so-called “law enforcement bill of rights” establishing new legal protections that advocates for policing reform say would make it even harder than it already is to hold officers accountable for misconduct. Maryland, which in 1974 became the first state to adopt a law enforcement bill of rights, repealed its statute last month, citing the obstacle it proved to be in firing problem officers, including some who had been convicted of crimes.
 
HB 876 also contains provisions attempting to crack down on officers who engage in sexual misconduct on duty, improve criminal background checks for potential officers and provide salary increases to county sheriffs, among other provisions.

I invite you to mark your calendars for the next virtual town hall event, broadcasting live from District 22 at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Center, on June 26 at 1pm. 

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 is deserves to be recognized for their work in our community, please complete this form to nominate them for the District 22 Outstanding Citizen Award. 

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.