Attorney General Chris Koster.

The Missouri Catholic Conference this week expressed grave disappointment in Attorney General Chris Koster's refusal to appeal a St. Louis federal judge's ruling striking down the conscience protections in SB 749, the law protecting the religious liberty of all Missouri citizens passed last fall overwhelmingly by the Missouri General Assembly.

Over the last six months, there have been four federal court decisions in cases brought by Missouri business owners blocking enforcement of the HHS contraceptive and abortion drug mandate. A direct appeal of the order striking down SB 749 would have been the best way to defend Missouri law and the religious liberty of Missouri citizens.

Persons of faith should not be compelled to participate in acts which violate their conscience. As Pope John Paul II stated in the Gospel of Life, "[t]o refuse to take part in an injustice is not only a moral duty; it is also a basic human right." (No. 74) This idea has been a basic tenet of U.S. law and is enshrined in the free exercise clause of the 1st Amendment and is recognized in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.

The Missouri Catholic Conference is confident that the ongoing litigation challenging the HHS mandate will ultimately vindicate the conscience protections in Missouri law that were struck down.

HB 400, a bill that would ban telemedicine abortions in Missouri, is on the Missouri House calendar and will be considered soon.

HB 400 is intended to prevent Planned Parenthood from setting up telemedicine clinics in remote portions of Missouri to perform abortions using Internet videophone technology. According to testimony offered by a former Planned Parenthood employee in Iowa at a recent hearing on HB 400, Planned Parenthood of Iowa added clinics after starting a telemedicine abortion practice there, increasing the number of Planned Parenthood clinics in Iowa from five to 17.  

The Missouri Catholic Conference strongly supports HB 400, since it will prevent Missouri abortion providers from participating in telemedicine abortions

In speaking against modern developments like telemedicine abortions, Pope John Paul II lamented the spread of what he termed a "conspiracy against life," stating:

"In order to facilitate the spread of abortion, enormous sums of money have been invested and continue to be invested in the production of pharmaceutical products, which make it possible to kill the fetus in the mother's womb without recourse to medical assistance. On this point, scientific research itself seems almost exclusively preoccupied with developing products which are ever more simple and effective in suppressing life and which at the same time are capable of removing abortion from any kind of control or social responsibility." (Evangelium Vitae, No.13, emphasis in original)

The common good demands that we avoid falling into the trap of spreading the evil of abortion at all, much less through the misappropriation of modern technology. To contact your state representative to voice your support for HB 400, click here.

Click here to view the Action Alert on HB 400. 

This week the House of Representatives gave first round approval to a bill that would help Missouri children visit their parents in prison.  

Sponsored by Representative Penny Hubbard (D-St. Louis), HB 443 would establish a pilot program to provide transportation to children whose parents are incarcerated more than 50 miles from their homes.

The pilot program would include two men's prisons and two women's prisons. By 2017 the Department of Corrections would have to provide a report on the program to the general assembly.

In a floor letter urging support for HB 443, the MCC reminded lawmakers that the U.S. bishops have stressed the importance of family contact with inmates. In their 2000 statement on criminal justice, the bishops stated that "regular inmate contact with family and friends reduces the likelihood that upon release they will return to a life of crime."

The bill needs one more vote of approval from the House before it moves to the Senate.

Signs are mounting that the general assembly may fail to act on legislation to reform and expand Medicaid this session. While State Representative Jay Barnes (R-Jefferson City) has worked diligently to explain his Medicaid reform bill (HCS HB 700) to both House Republicans and Democrats, no similar bipartisan effort has taken place in the Missouri Senate. The Senate appears inclined to have an interim committee look into the issue over the summer after the session adjourns.

Delay would mean the state of Missouri forgoes receiving millions of new federal dollars to expand health coverage to the working poor. At present, Missouri only allows Medicaid health coverage for parents with incomes up to 19% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). The Medicaid expansion offered under the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) would raise the eligibility to 138% of the FPL with the federal government covering 100% of the cost of the expansion for the first three years.

The Barnes bill proposes raising eligibility to 100% of FPL, a vast improvement over current Missouri law, though some legal experts argue the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will not grant the enhanced 100% federal funding if a state refuses to expand to 138% of FPL.

Further complicating the picture is an announcement this week by the Obama Administration to seek a one-year delay in cutting the payments hospitals receive for providing uncompensated care to indigent patients. One of the main arguments for expanding Medicaid has been that the Medicaid reimbursements are necessary to replace the lost payments to hospitals. The Obama Administration announcement may dissipate the push to immediately expand Medicaid. For more on the reaction of state legislators, see this St. Louis Post Dispatch article. 

Meanwhile, Medicaid expansion without reform appears to be a non-starter in the general assembly. Reforms under discussion call for some cost-sharing (co-pays, etc.) by Medicaid recipients, encouraging more prudent use of emergency rooms and more competitive bidding in selecting managed care companies.  

The Missouri Catholic Conference is supporting Representative Barnes' bill as a step in the direction of expanding coverage to many of Missouri's working poor. Stay tuned for more.

The Missouri General Assembly is poised to send to Governor Jay Nixon legislation that repeals the tax credit now available to lower-income renters who are elderly or disabled. But the governor has decided he doesn't like the bill.

SB 350, sponsored by Senator Tom Dempsey (R-St. Charles), would prohibit the issuance of the renter's portion of the senior citizens property tax credit. Monies saved by the repeal of the credit would be deposited in a new Missouri Senior Services Protection Fund, which would provide services to the elderly and disabled.

Governor Nixon has pushed for comprehensive reform of Missouri's tax credits, but is now uncomfortable with singling out just one credit for repeal. Here's his statement:

"As Governor, I have focused on creating jobs, balancing the budget, and keeping Missouri's economy moving forward. That is why I have called on the general assembly to send me a comprehensive package of tax credit reforms, this session, to ensure all of these programs provide a strong return for taxpayers, our communities and our economy. Effective tax credit reform must also be broad-based and balanced. A partial reform that eliminates a single program, such as the renters' portion of the Property Tax Credit, represents a flawed approach that I do not support. Both the House and Senate are considering broader tax credit reform legislation, and I urge them to continue working to get a comprehensive and balanced reform bill to my desk."

The Senate Appropriations Committee has decided to maintain funding for the Alternatives to Abortion (ATA) program at its present level of $1.58 million. An additional $50,000 is appropriated for an awareness program to promote ATA. This additional money could be  used for a variety of promotional activities, such as radio and television spots, creating an ATA website, etc.

The ATA funding still requires approval by the full Senate.

A push is being made in the Missouri General Assembly to match the tax cutting already enacted in Kansas. SB 26, sponsored by Senator Will Kraus (R-Lee's Summit), would cut the individual income tax rate from 6% to 5.25% and cut the corporate income tax rate from 6.25% to 5.5%. Meanwhile, the bill increases the state sales tax. How the various tax changes will affect taxpayer's total tax bill is hotly debated, as is the bill's probable effect on the collection of tax revenue by the state of Missouri.

Arguments for a tax cut like SB 26 have been offered by various business groups as well as the Show-Me Institute. The Show-Me Institute believes that tax cuts and reform could spur dramatic economic growth so Missouri could compete with neighboring states like Kansas. Click here for an essay by the Institute. The Missouri Budget Project, however, projects that when fully implemented the tax cut changes proposed by SB 26 could slash state general revenue by nearly $1 billion and thus lead to massive funding cuts in essential state services. For the Budget Project's analysis, click here. 

SB 26 moved quickly through the Missouri Senate but has now slowed down as it is mulled over by the House Ways and Means Committee. Stay tuned for more.

With the end of the session just weeks away, it appears less likely that the Missouri General Assembly will pass any major revision of the state's criminal code this year. The bills - HB 210 and SB 253 - are massive bills (almost 600 and 1,100 pages respectively) and each bill has required several sessions in committee to explain the changes and answer questions of lawmakers. While many of the changes are organizational, including adding gender-neutral language, several changes affect the severity of punishments that offenders can receive.

Missouri last revised its criminal code in 1979. Over the last several years the Missouri Bar brought together a special committee of prosecutors and defense attorneys to find ways to update the code to make it more cohesive and suitable to current situations. Their recommendations were reviewed by a special interim committee of legislators last fall and were the basis of HB 210 and SB 253.

Despite this collaboration, the bills have moved slowly through the process. Leadership in both the House and Senate are now indicating that because of their extensive nature, the bills should have time to "breathe" over the summer and gather input from citizens. With leadership losing interest, these bills are likely stalled for the session.

Order prayer cards featuring our new pope in English or Spanish and a digital photo download. These items can be obtained through the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Click here to order.