THIS WEEK IN ADVOCACY 

Welcome back to This Week in Advocacy, a brief publication by Easterseals Midwest designed to keep you informed of key advocacy issues, opportunities, and updates surrounding disability legislation in Missouri.

THE FY25 BUDGET AND SENATE MARKUP RESULTS

The FY25 Budget is now in the hands of the Senate Appropriations Committee, led by Senator Lincoln Hough. The budget process is in markup mode as the Approps Committee amends the 13 House Bills to its liking. The House edited the Governor’s initial version of the budget downward by about $2 billion, leaving an FY25 Operating Budget of about $50 billion. 

The Senate has restored some of the House cuts and added some new appropriation items for a total budget that looks more like the Governor’s original version. Having said all that, we will begin next week, with only two weeks left to finalize and send it to the Governor. 

Of course, we are not as concerned about the totality of the budget as we are about our section in HB10. Remember, we are pursuing a rate increase that allows community-based providers of disability services to pay a more competitive amount. We are losing the retention and recruitment races for our frontline workers. The impacts of these marketplace losses are provider loss of capacity, the growth of our wait list, and the effects of the turnover on the individuals that we support.

We initially fared well with the Senate Approps Committee with the following amendments being added to the budget:

• Restoration of the House’s cuts to federal funding for Vocational Rehabilitation and Developmental Disabilities, which would have impacted existing programs.
• An increase in our rates for community providers will make pay competitive wages, including an evening and weekend shift differential increase.
• An increase for Day Habilitation and Employment Service providers.

There were some new appropriations targeted at some new programs in the Division of Developmental Disabilities, as well.

We are grateful to Senate Approps Chair, Senator Hough, for his efforts on our behalf, but the approval process still has a way to go. The Senate’s version of the budget goes to the full Senate for debate, amendment, and approval. Those items that do not match the budget items from the House will go to the Conference Committee for reconciliation, either the House or Senate version. All of our budget items will go through the Conference Committee process because they were put into the budget only when it came to the Senate. Again, we will take the time to thank the Approps Committee for their efforts on our behalf.

Keep an eye out for an Action Alert in the upcoming week as we enter the Conference Committee phase of this process. Once we get through this and the final version of the FY25 Budget is sent to Governor Mike Parson, we will focus on getting the Governor to support our budget items. He has until June 30 to approve.

TAKE ACTION FOR AUTISM WEEKEND BEGINS TODAY!

If you are an advocate with us in St. Louis, we invite you to celebrate Take Action for Autism Weekend with us this weekend! April 26 - 28 has officially been declared Take Action for Autism Weekend by St. Louis City and County. Local businesses have joined us and will donate a portion of their proceeds from the entire weekend to Easterseals’ life-changing autism services.

Dine out, go shopping, and have fun - every action during Take Action for Autism Weekend makes a difference for children, adults, and families impacted by autism in St. Louis. 

Visit places like Schlafly Bottleworks, Kendra Scott, We Rock the Spectrum, Hi-Pointe Drive-In, Seoul Taco, Happy Up Inc., Health from Within, and more to make a difference with us!

To learn more about getting involved and see all of our exceptional partners, visit TakeActionforAutism.org.

PLEASE CONSIDER ATTENDING THE AGING WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES CONFERENCE

As people with disabilities live longer and healthier lives, it creates a new need for support and services. These “issues” have now become the happy burden of families and community-based providers, like Easterseals Midwest. The challenges of managing support from birth to death have created a dilemma (a happy dilemma) of how to allow people with disabilities to live as independently as possible, especially for those aging in place. This conference will educate attendees on how to produce the best outcomes for people with disabilities as they live a full and successful life.

33rd Annual Aging with Developmental Disabilities Conference
May 20-21, 2024
St. Charles, Missouri

CAPITOL VISITS

If you did not already know, we have a team in Jefferson City advocating for the disability community almost every week. Recently, I was joined by two members of Easterseals’ Development team and former Easterseals Board Member Bill Bartelsmeyer on one such visit. During these trips, we speak face-to-face with our legislators, sharing the impact they can have on the disability community.

Pictured here, from left to right: Vice President of Government Relations Greg Kramer, Development Associate Shannan White, Senator Andrew Koenig, Former Board Member Bill Bartelsmeyer, and Community Relations Manager McKenzi Melching. 

ODDS AND ENDS

The $4 billion healthcare provider tax funding (FRA) for Missouri STILL needs to be renewed. A $4 billion loss to the state budget will ultimately hurt someone.  

Speaker of the House Dean Plocher appears to be weathering the allegations and the Ethics Committee report. 

We are still monitoring the potential sheltered workshop legislation and the Personal Property tax reform legislation.   

And finally, as we say each week, this is an election year. Now is the time to familiarize yourself with your candidates. Advocacy starts at the ballot box.

Thank you for your advocacy! You’re making a difference for people with disabilities.

Greg Kramer
Vice President of Government Relations
greg.kramer@esmw.org
314.853.4473