He lives in a simple apartment, cooks his own meals and rides the bus to work. When Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected Pope yesterday and instructed to sit on the throne where popes preside over their brother Cardinals, he refused and instead chose to sit on their level. He is a Jesuit who, like all Jesuits, has taken a vow of poverty. In his first act as Pope he took the name Francis after St. Francis of Assisi.

Tax credits benefiting thousands of Missourians have been restored with the passage of SB 20 and Senate Committee Substitute for SB 15 and 19 by the Missouri General Assembly.

Senator Bob Dixon (R-Springfield)

On March 13, the Missouri General Assembly    voted to pass the legislation, which was sponsored by Senator Bob Dixon (R-Springfield).

"With this bill, we tap the strong charitable spirit of Missourians to drive local efforts to help Missouri's neediest citizens," Senator Dixon said. "It encourages individuals to give locally and support their friends and neighbors who are on the front lines helping others."  

The bill re-establishes expired tax credits that people can claim when donating to pregnancy resource centers, food pantries and organizations that serve children in crisis situations.

There are 56 pregnancy resource centers in Missouri. The centers assist women with unplanned or crisis pregnancies and encourage women to carry their pregnancies to term by offering pregnancy testing and counseling with emotional and material support. Pregnancy resource centers provide cost-free, client services at the facility, as opposed to merely providing counseling or referral services by telephone.

Representative Eric Burlison (R-Springfield) handled SB 20 on the House Floor.

When the tax credits expired on August 27, 2012, centers began to notice a drop in donations.The restoration of these credits is expected to spur more donations, thus helping thousands of people across the state.

Representative John McCaherty (R-High Ridge), who voted to pass the legislation, said SB 20 would allow private citizens to donate their money to charitable groups they chose, while also saving the state money.

"I think our benevolent tax credits are vital for our communities and state. For the pregnancy resource centers, food banks and child in crisis centers, all of them need the help and help people that would be turning to the state for help, did they not exist."

This bill would extend most of these tax credits until December 31, 2019. SB 20 now goes to Governor Nixon for his consideration. 

The Missouri House of Representatives this week passed a bill protecting the conscience rights of healthcare providers. HB 457, sponsored by House Speaker Tim Jones (R-Eureka), provides healthcare workers the right to opt out of providing medical care in certain circumstances when to do so would violate their religious or moral convictions.

The bill expands Missouri law, which currently allows healthcare providers to opt out of participating in abortion, by permitting them to opt out of participating in contraception, sterilization procedures that are not medically necessary, embryonic stem cell research, assisted reproduction, and fetal tissue experimentation.

The bill would require medical professionals to provide "reasonable notice" of their intent not to participate in these procedures, and would prevent them from withholding emergency medical treatment or services necessary to save the life of the patient.

Healthcare workers asserting these conscience rights could not be discriminated against, and could seek legal recourse in the event that these rights were violated. Speaking in favor of the bill, House Speaker Jones said this bill protects conscience rights that are and have always been "sacrosanct" in America, rights that many came to this country to claim.

The House passed the bill by a vote of 116-41, with members from both sides of the aisle voting in favor of it. HB 457 now moves to the Senate for consideration. A companion bill - SB 84 sponsored by Senator Scott Rupp (R-O'Fallon) - was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 11 by a vote of 5-2.

Both the Missouri House and Senate have rejected Medicaid expansion bills pending before committees of their respective chambers. But the issue is not dead yet. Representative Jay Barnes (R-Jefferson City) has filed legislation (HB 700) that takes a different approach by proposing reforms of Medicaid, such as requiring more cost-sharing by recipients, and building in various pro-life protections, such as prohibiting funding of abortions.