MOScout Daily Update: Polls on Public Safety, Education - AV Hearing - DSS Pay Plan and more…
As session opens, some interest groups roll out polling to show support for their legislative agenda…
Poll: Public Safety Policies
Arnold Ventures is circulating a poll showing that “Missouri voters overwhelmingly back proven, evidence-based policies to strengthen public safety and make the state’s criminal justice system more effective.”
· An overwhelming eighty-five percent of Missouri voters support fully funding the Violent Crime Clearance Grant Program, created by the legislature last year, to help law enforcement agencies hire and retain investigators, modernize technology, and solve more violent crimes.
· More than eighty percent support collecting DNA at all felony arrests to aid law enforcement investigations and help solve crimes.
· Eighty-seven percent support creating an Independent Office of Corrections and Transparency to monitor prison conditions, identify waste, fraud, or abuse, increase government transparency, and protect the safety of corrections staff and incarcerated individuals.
· Seventy-nine percent support creating a Missouri version of President Trump’s First Step Act, allowing certain incarcerated individuals to earn sentence reductions through good-time and earned-time credits, while preserving parole board discretion.
Poll: Education Policies
Also making the rounds is an American Viewpoints survey which asks about several potential education proposals. See the polling memo here.
· Require the Missouri Department of Education to rate every school rather than just the school district… 74% in favor.
· Expand Education Savings Accounts… 62% in favor.
· Open enrollment… 62% in favor.
· Expand charter schools… 56% in favor.
Health Forward’s Advocacy Mandate
I heard from some folks who were surprised last week when I reported Health Forward, the Kansas City nonprofit, gave $400,000 to Protect Majority Rule Missouri.
Qiana Thomason reflects on the decision: Advocacy has always been the lifeblood of Health Forward Foundation. Despite the political and organizational risks amid the current climate, and with our board’s dedicated support, we took bold and decisive action to fund the campaign opposing the Congressional gerrymandering in Missouri with a $750,000 investment. This consequential investment supported the collection of over 305,000 signatures from empowered Missourians, which when certified by the Secretary of State will enable a citizen’s referendum and 2026 ballot initiative aimed to overturn the unfair maps that strip power from our communities.
House AV Hearing
The House Emerging Issues Committee last night heard bills to create a regulatory framework for autonomous vehicles.
· Rep. Don Mayhew’s HB 2208.
· Rep. Brandon Phelps’ HB 2069.
The opposition seemed to be driven mostly by worries that this was one step down the road to automating the nation’s trucking fleet – and concerns about job losses that it would create.
But the most compelling testimony came from Lori Becker, CEO of Starkloff Disability Institute… “I am legally blind, and I also have epilepsy So I've never been able to have a driver's license. Anytime that I want to go to work, or anywhere, I've always had to take some very, very significant extra time for planning that trip, for making arrangements, for thinking about all of the other things that need to happen in case something goes awry. For example, it’s taken me fourteen hours to come to here on the train and wait to speak to you for five minutes and I gotta haul it back because my train's gonna be leaving soon. So on behalf of the individuals that I serve every year, I'm encouraging you to bring autonomous vehicles to Missouri as quickly as possible. This is not going to kill jobs… Transportation is the largest barrier that we still face that prevents us from getting to work every single day… We wanna be independent. We wanna get to work.”
And
Anyone who thinks Avs won’t be safer and save lives must have their eyes closed…
DSS Plans Pay Increase
The mighty Jason Rosenbaum reports that the Missouri Department of Social Services is moving to increase the pay of child abuser investigators.
Under the plan, [DSS Director Jessica] Bax said that an entry-level child abuse investigator could move into a more specialized job at a higher salary providing assistance to workers looking into alleged abuse or neglect…
· Bax said Children’s Division Director Sarah Smith is implementing the plan now.
What It Means
The key pull quote: “One of the things that we’re looking at doing, without a specific dollar increase from the General Assembly, is thinking about the work in terms of what are some elevated roles that are really necessary within Children’s Division to help out the frontline worker,” Bax said.
· In a tight budget year, you can’t just ask for more money for priorities, you have to be creative and figure out how to do it within your existing budget.
NYT on Mississippi
The New York Times reports on Mississippi’s experience in trying to transform their schools. Read it here.
· Poverty remains a driving factor in student achievement, and wealthy states like Massachusetts still have the highest share of students proficient in reading and math. But adjusted for poverty and other student demographics, Mississippi is No. 1 for fourth grade reading and math, and at or near the top in eighth grade, according to the Urban Institute, a left-leaning think tank…
· It did not do so by relying on some of the most common proposals held up as solutions in education, like reducing class sizes, or dramatically boosting per-student funding. Rather, the state pushed through a vast list of other changes from the top down, including changing the way reading is taught, in an approach known as the science of reading, but also embracing contentious school accountability policies other states have backed away from.
· In addition to the reading overhaul, Mississippi raised academic standards and started giving each school a letter grade, A to F…
· The state also takes an unusually strong role in telling schools what to do. The Mississippi Department of Education sends literacy and math coaches into low-performing elementary schools, with the goal of teaching teachers, not children. And state officials vet and approve curriculum used by the vast majority of districts, unusual in a country that prizes local control of schools.
Cattle Market Stays Hot
From the Missouri Department of Agriculture’s Weekly Summary.
$5K+ Contributions
Growth and Opportunity PAC - $10,000 from Nodaway Valley Bank.
MO Outdoor Advertising PAC - $7,385 from Missouri Outdoor Advertising Association PAC.
Nexus PAC - $10,000 from Paric Holdings, Inc.
Citizens for State Parks Soil and Water - $20,000 from Missouri Corn Grower Association, Inc.
Citizens for State Parks Soil and Water - $10,000 from Missouri Cattlemens Association PAC.
Lobbyist Registrations
Jeffrey Barlow added Missouri Juvenile Justice Association.
Chad William Brisacher added MO Tax Relief Now.
Heath Clarkston, Mike Henderson, and Doug Nelson added Alliance for Health Information Operations and Standards (AHIOS) c/o MultiState Associates, LLC.
Dan Houx added Torch Electronics LLC.
Derek Leffert added Missouri Water & Wastewater Association.
Christian Morgan added BJC Healthcare Systems.
Scott Swain added Missouri Future, LLC.
Jason Zamkus added American Association of Dental Boards.
Jack Cardetti deleted Real Equity Management.
Happy Birthday
Happy birthdays to Karen Settlemoir-Berg, and Jeffrey Boyd.