Survey Results for 2015 are in!

2015 District 151 Survey Results

Survey Results are back!

 

Representative Hubrecht sent a survey to constituents of the 151^st District to determine the standing of the district on various issues facing Missourians.  A total of 678 surveys were returned to the office.  Listed below are the questions on the survey and the percentages of Yes, No, No Opinion. 

 

 

1.     Does Missouri’s current $26.2 billion in revenues adequately provide for the various needs of state government?

a.   320 or 47.2% Yes

b.   127 or 18.7% No

c.    65 or 9.5% No Opinion

d.   163 or 24% No Response

 

2.    Should tax credit programs like these be reined in because they reduce tax revenues available to state government spending priorities like education, public safety and the disabled?

a.   258 or 38% Yes

b.   215 or 31.7% No

c.    48 or 7% No Opinion

d.   155 or 22.8% No Response

 

3.    Should MO tax laws be changed to apply the same sales tax rates and requirements to all purchases, for both MO-based retailers and purchases made over the internet?

a.   254 or 37% Yes

b.   245 or 36.1% No

c.    28 or 4.1% No Opinion

d.   151 or 22.2% No Response

 

4.    Should MO enact public-private partnerships that would lease certain MO roads and bridges to private entities to maintain in exchange for the ability of those entities to charge tolls?

a.   105 or 15.4% Yes

b.   388 or 57.2% No

c.    31 or 4.5% No Opinion

d.   150 or 22.1% No Response

 

5.    Should the legislature put before the voters a proposition that would temporarily increase the current 17-cent per gallon road tax by a modest amount so that additional revenues could be bonded to generate additional revenue for road and bridge construction?

a.   228 or 33.6% Yes

b.   288 or 42.4% No

c.    10 or 1.4% No Opinion

d.   151 or 22.2% No Response

 

6.    Does Missouri’s current system for attracting and retaining quality educators work effectively?

a.   208 or 30.6% Yes

b.   233 or 34.3% No

c.    82 or 12% No Opinion

d.   154 or 22.7% No Response

 

7.    Should MO’s education department stay out of curriculum development and performance reviews because these are issues best handled by the local school districts?

a.   412 or 60.7% Yes

b.   82 or 12% No

c.    33% or 4.8% No Opinion

d.   151 or 22.2% No Response

 

8.    Should the state allow parents the option of transferring their children to a “virtual school” that meets the state education standards for children that are more likely to effectively learn through “online education”?

a.   265 or 39% Yes

b.   196 or 28.9% No

c.    64 or 9.4% No Opinion

d.   152 or 22.4% No Response

 

9.    Should MO accept additional federal funds for Medicaid expansion if the state can receive the authority to overhaul the existing Medicaid system into a less cumbersome and more effective health care delivery system?

a.   279 or 41.1% Yes

b.   204 or 30% No

c.    38 or 5.6% No Opinion

d.   156 or 23% No Response

 

10. Should MO’s term limit system by less restrictive by allowing the same 16 years total, without regard to the chamber in which the member serves?

a.   119 or 17.5% Yes

b.   393 or 57.9% No

c.    15 or 2.2% No Opinion

d.   151 or 22.2% No Response

 

11. Should MO adopt more restrictive regulations on abortion service providers to further reduce the number of abortions occurring in the state?

a.   386 or 56.9% Yes

b.   112 or 16.5% No

c.    31 or 4.5% No Opinion

d.   149 or 21.9% No Response

 

12. Should MO law be changed to eliminate the requirement for citizens to obtain a concealed weapons permit before lawfully carrying a concealed weapon?

a.   177 or 26.1% Yes

b.   344 or 50.7% No

c.    8 or 1.1% No Opinion

d.   149 or 21.9% No Response

 

13. Should MO law be changed to abolish use of the death penalty?

a.   48 or 7% Yes

b.   449 or 66.2% No

c.    27 or 3.9% No Opinion

d.   154 or 22.7% No Response

 

14. Should MO law be changed to allow for the decriminalization for marijuana only for medicinal use?

a.   221 or 32.6% Yes

b.   276 or 40.7% No

c.    23 or 3.3% No Opinion

d.   158 or 23.3% No Response

 

 

A side note about the questions in the survey:

All representatives are given a list of 20 questions to choose to use on a district survey.  A representative may choose to write his or her own questions but these are more difficult to obtain the tabulated responses.  This year, Representative Hubrecht chose to use the “stock” questions choosing 12 that she felt were most pressing to be included on a survey.

 

**The No Response answers were reviewed by Representative Hubrecht and her staff, these unanswered responses were not all on the same survey.  Many surveys answered only specific questions leaving the remaining questions unanswered resulting in the No Response category. 

May 22nd Capitol Report

As we go into this Memorial Day weekend, I have to stop for a minute and think about all the sacrifices that have been made for us.  Sacrifices that we will never know about in many cases.  I cannot thank those that willingly risk their lives for our freedom enough.  I am forever indebted to them and what they have given or were willing to give. 

I know from my own experience, when my husband was deployed, I worried all the time while he was in the combat zone.  We were lucky with the modern technology that I was able to hear from him frequently.  In war’s past, that was not the case, months would go by without hearing from the loved one. 

Also in war’s past, many more people were deployed to the combat zones and almost everyone knew someone firsthand that was serving or had served.  Now very few actually deploy to a combat zone with all of the new modern warfare technology. Many people do not know anyone that has or is serving.  This is causing many to not understand the importance of a strong military nor understand the sacrifice that comes with serving in the military.

America is a great nation, we have so much to be thankful for.  Please remember this during the weekend and if you see a veteran, thank him or her for their sacrifice.  Don’t forget the service Monday at the Veteran’s Cemetery in Bloomfield at 1pm.

Honoring Our Heroes

Here in Missouri near St. Louis overlooking the Mississippi River, we are honored to have the final resting place of more than 200,000 of our nation’s heroes. It is on these hallowed grounds that soldiers from every war in our history now lay at rest, and where each year we are saddened by the fact that more than 4,000 graves are added to this count that is already far too high.

The graves and markers at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery are a lasting tribute to the courage and selfless sacrifice of the individuals who have stood and fought for the freedoms we have today: Americans who put love of country above love of self; who risked life and limb so that our nation could continue to stand as a shining beacon of freedom and hope for the rest of the world.

But these measured rows of white markers in now peaceful fields must stand for something even more than this. As one veteran once remarked, “These simple markers list names and dates, they are no more than that. For you cannot see the pain on whitened stone or feel the loss of lives fully lived that might have been. It is not enough to delegate their memory to a marble pillar. We must forever etch their memory in our hearts as well as on stone.”

As we honor the memories of those who have fought and died for our nation this Memorial Day, let us vow to never forget the price that has been paid for the freedoms we enjoy, and to remember on each and every day that far too many of our best and our brightest have given their lives in defense of the way of life we hold dear. We as a nation must commit ourselves to their memory, for it was through their sacrifice that we have the freedom to live in peace.

Capitol News:

Legislature Approves Several Unheralded Bills to Help Missourians

While the General Assembly passed several important pieces of priority legislation that received ample amounts of media attention, the members of the House and Senate also pushed other bills to the governor’s desk that will make a substantive, positive difference in the lives of many Missouri families. In total, the legislature gave final approval to 131 pieces of legislation this session with 76 of those bills coming from the House and 55 from the Senate. Priority items like the welfare, medical malpractice and education reform packages received most of the headlines, but many other bills that will soon be law will also have a positive impact despite the fact they were largely ignored by the media.

Protecting Children (SB 341)

Legislation now on the governor’s desk takes several steps to ensure young people in Missouri are raised in safe and healthy environments. The bill will require licensed child care centers to follow current safe sleep standards recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics for children under the age of one.

The bill also requires all public, private, and parochial day care centers, preschools, and nursery schools to notify parents or guardians, upon request, of whether there are children at the facility with an immunization exemption.

The legislation also gives the Children’s Division of the Missouri Department of Social Services authority to take action when it receives a report of a child under 14 with problem sexual behavior exhibiting inappropriate behavior against another child. Current law allows the division to investigate only abuse allegations against adults and other teens.

Treatment Coverage for Eating Disorders (SB 145)

The legislature approved a bill this session to provide assistance to Missourians who suffer from an eating disorder. The bill will require insurance companies to cover the diagnosis and medically necessary treatment of eating disorders. The bill is not a mandate on insurance, but lays out how eating disorder coverage decisions must be made.

Child-Safe Packaging for Liquid Nicotine (HB 531)

The increasing popularity of e-cigarettes led the legislature to approve a bill to put new safety standards in place to protect young people from the dangers of liquid nicotine. The bill is meant to ensure child safety and prevent accidental nicotine poisoning by requiring child resistant packaging. Individuals who engage in retail sales of liquid nicotine containers in Missouri in violation of these provisions must be assessed a fine of $250 for the first violation and $500 for each subsequent violation.

It is official, this session has officially ended! Strange last day of session..... Our day began with Speaker Diehl resigning,  We elected Representative Todd Richardson to be our new Speaker!! I am proud that Speaker Richardson is from Southeast Missouri! I think it is also worthy of mentioning that Speaker Richardson was the only person nominated, both sides of the aisle agreed that he is a man of integrity, one that will lead us in a manner that is worthy of the task the people have given to us.  In the House we worked until 6pm passing 31 pieces of legislation to the Governor's desk!

I am so excited to announce that I received the Freshman Legislator of the Year Award for Healthcare Issues!
I am very proud to have received this award and look forward to working on more healthcare related issues over the interim and next session!

Capitol Report for May 8th

On Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 10^th, we honor the grace, wisdom, and strength of all of our mothers, and all women that have made a difference in a child’s life.

 

For those of us fortunate enough to have a mother living and guiding us, it is nothing less than a gift from above. I encourage you to take this day to celebrate the extraordinary contributions mothers make in the lives of their children and their families.

I also want to send a huge THANK YOU! to all our teachers, nurses and law enforcement officials!  This week was also "their week".

Friday is Truman Day.  I hope that if you don't know any background on this Outstanding Missourian, you will take a few moments and follow the link below to learn a little about Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States, from Missouri!

During his few weeks as Vice President, Harry Truman scarcely saw President Franklin Roosevelt, and received no briefing on the development of the atomic bomb or the unfolding difficulties with Soviet Russia. Suddenly these and a host of other wartime problems became Truman's to solve when, on April 12, 1945, he became America's 33rd President.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/harrystruman

It has been a long week and a short week all in the same week!  Not sure if anyone else has felt that way but I think all of us here, with session winding down, feel that way for sure!  Things are moving fast with amendments being tacked onto anything that doesn't move fast enough!  If you have any questions or would like more information on any bill listed below, just give my office a call and we will get you whatever you request.

We will be in session all of next week with session ending at 6pm on Friday.  I will possibly be late getting the Capitol Report out due to I will finish it when session officially ends.  I will also try to get an end of session report out as quickly as possible.

Until next week,
Tila


Capitol News:
 
Missouri’s Economy Continues to Grow
The state received good news this week as the latest economic numbers show Missouri’s revenues continue to increase at a rate faster than anticipated. To date, revenues have grown by 7.7 percent compared to last year. The number represents a considerable increase over what the governor had predicted, and based his budget on, with a 4.6 percent growth estimate.

The additional dollars prompted the governor to release some of the withheld funds he had kept back as he claimed revenues were insufficient to fund all of the items in the budget. Already the state has paid back $400 million it had borrowed from the state’s reserve fund. In addition, this week the governor released another $67 million in withheld funding. These dollars will go to building projects on college campuses around the state, college scholarship programs, transportation funding for K-12 schools, and several other vital programs.

Even with the significant uptick in state revenues, the governor continues to withhold approximately $269 million in funding for the Fiscal Year 2015 budget, which ends June 30.

General Assembly Overrides Governor’s Veto of Welfare Reform Bill (SB 24)
The members of the Missouri House and Senate worked together this week to override the governor’s veto of legislation meant to reform Missouri’s system of welfare so that it does a better job of moving folks out of poverty and toward self-sufficiency. The override motion cleared the House by a vote of 113-42 and the Senate by a vote of 25-9.

The legislation will lower the lifetime benefits for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families recipients to 45 months from the current limit of 60 months. In addition, it will add Missouri to the list of 37 other states that require welfare recipients to take immediate steps to seek employment in order to receive benefits. The legislation then takes the savings generated by the reforms and invests them in child care, education, transportation and job training assistance for participants in the TANF program.

Following the override of the bill in the House, Speaker John Diehl issued the following statement, “The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program is meant to be a short-term bridge back to self-sufficiency rather than a system that condemns Missouri families to a lifetime of poverty and dependence on government assistance. This legislature has put much-needed, common sense reforms in place that will move the program back toward its intended purpose to help Missourians in need to get back on their feet and back into the workforce.”

With the successful veto override, the bill is now set to become law on August 28. However, most of the provisions in the bill will not take effect until January 1, 2016.

Legislature Takes Action to Address School Transfer Crisis (HB 42)
Legislation meant to give kids in struggling schools more options to obtain a quality education is now on its way to the governor. The House and Senate this week approved a compromise version of what has commonly been referred to as the school transfer bill.

At its core, the transfer bill is meant to clarify and improve an existing state law that allows kids to transfer from poor-performing schools to better-performing ones. The law has created a great deal of financial hardship for unaccredited districts such as Normandy, which has been forced to pick up the tab for hundreds of kids who have transferred into surrounding districts.

To help improve educational outcomes for young people in these districts, and for kids around the state, the bill includes a number of provisions that would:
 

• Allow the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to accredit individual schools within each district rather than the district as a whole;
• Allow students in unaccredited schools to transfer to other accredited schools in the district as a first option – a move designed to save districts from being bankrupted by paying for a mass exodus of students to other districts;
• Give students in urban areas the option to transfer to neighboring accredited districts if all slots are full in the accredited schools in their district. The bill also provides an option to transfer to an approved charter school or to enroll in a virtual education program;
• Help ease the financial burden on sending districts by giving receiving districts an incentive to accept lower tuition reimbursement for transferring students. The bill would allow districts that accept 25 or more students at the lower rate to be considered for accreditation with distinction; and

Protect receiving districts from being overwhelmed by transferring students by allowing them to establish policies regarding classroom size and student-teacher ratio.

Supporters of the bill acknowledged that the plan doesn’t represent a perfect solution for the thousands of young people in poor-performing schools, but argued that it does provide a pathway forward for kids to receive the educational opportunities they need and deserve. They also pointed to the need to address the problem now rather than pass it along for future legislatures to solve.

Opponents of the idea took issue with the lack of a tuition cap to keep costs in check for sending schools. They also expressed concerns regarding the expansion of charter schools, and the virtual school option, which they said would be run by a private company rather than by the public school system.

The legislation now moves to the governor’s desk. The governor has already said he is unsure if he will sign or veto the bill, but indicated that he would give it a deep and thorough review before taking action.

Missouri House Gives Final Approval to Municipal Court Reform Bill (SB 5)
Another bill on its way to the governor’s desk would protect Missourians from some municipalities that have exhibited predatory practices to raise revenue through excessive traffic tickets. The bill approved by the House and Senate is designed to shut down “speed traps” by limiting the amount of revenue municipalities can generate from traffic violations.

The plan that is now just a signature from the governor away from becoming law would limit the amount of revenue municipalities can generate from traffic tickets to 20 percent, which is down from the current limit of 30 percent. The bill further limits municipalities in St. Louis County, which has been plagued by excessive traffic violations, so that only 12.5 percent of their total revenue can be derived from traffic tickets.

The bill also creates additional protections for Missourians by ending the process of courts issuing failure to appear charges against defendants for missing court dates on minor traffic violations. The bill also would prevent courts from ordering jail time for individuals who fail to pay traffic fines. In addition, the bill includes provisions to ensure accountability from municipalities in St. Louis County by requiring they meet minimum standards – police services, balanced budget, insurance, etc. – or possibly be dissolved.

Missouri House Approves Bill to Help Elderly and Disabled Missourians (SB 322)
The House approved legislation Wednesday that would allow elderly and disabled Missourians to possess more assets and still qualify for Medicaid.

Current law allows an individual to have only $1,000 in assets to qualify for Medicaid assistance. A married couple has an asset limit of $2,000. The bill approved by the House would steadily increase these limits to $5,000 for an individual and $10,000 for a couple by 2020. After that, the limits would continue to increase with the rate of inflation.

The bill received strong bipartisan support on the floor where the sponsor noted that Missouri’s assets limits haven’t changed since 1968. Supporters said the current limits prevent some of Missouri’s most vulnerable citizens from having enough in savings to adequately provide for themselves, or pay for things like emergency car or home repairs.

The bill now appears headed for a conference committee where selected members from the House and Senate will negotiate a final version of the bill.

Freshman Republican Class Makes Donation

To Concerns of Police Survivors

 

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Freshman Republican Caucus today presented a resolution and made a donation to their class charity, Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.). Concerns of Police Survivors, Inc. provides resources to assist in the rebuilding of the lives of surviving families and affected co-workers of law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty. Furthermore, C.O.P.S. provides training to law enforcement agencies on survivor victimization issues and educates the public of the need to support the law enforcement profession and its survivors.

 

"In times of turmoil there is an opportunity for organizations to make a real difference in people’s lives. One of these organizations that have gone above and beyond to make a difference is Concerns of Police Survivors," said Hubrecht, R-Dexter. “The Freshman Republican Class is honored to stand behind this compassionate organization and thank them for the powerful impact they are having on the families of our nation’s slain law enforcement officers.”

 

The Freshman Republican Class donated $5,600 to Concerns of Police Survivors. Every member of the Republican Freshman made a contribution towards the class’ charity. There to accept the donation was Mr. Steven Taylor, a member of the C.O.P.S. board of directors.

 

For further information, please contact Representative Hubrecht’s office at 573-751-1494.

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This next week we will begin our last week of session!  The time has certainly flown by!  As a freshman representative, this session has been full of learning experiences, I am looking forward to the interim period to work more on the bills that I filed this session that didn’t make it across the finish line as well as working on other issues that came to my attention during this session.

During the upcoming interim period, I plan to continue to look into the issues around the testing requirements by DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) for students and teachers. I have started working on this during the past few weeks and there is quite a lot more to research before I will be able to decide if legislative action can or should be taken on this or if this will require a different route of action to address these issues.  I am finding that many of these issues are tied to several pieces of federal legislation and regulations.

I will also, during the interim period, continue working on issues surrounding long term care.  There was a bill that was filed this session that really was a catalyst to bringing this topic to the forefront in the Health and Mental Health Policy Committee on which I serve.  The issues that I see requiring action and attention are: lack of adequate staffing, staffing education and pay, inadequate number of state inspectors as well as several other contributing factors.  I have already begun working to schedule several meetings with experts in the field over the interim.  I will also be attending a Health Policy Academy in Washington DC this summer to learn more of the federal regulations associated with this issue.

After the session has ended, I do plan to take some time and write a bit about the things that I have learned during this first session.  Things such as…the right and wrong way to draft a bill, when you are to file things in a certain place and when you are to file them in another… .  Lots of little things that only a first timer gets to experience!
The last two weeks are sure to be busy and I will be sure to keep you updated!

Until next week,
Tila