Tough Times and Responsible Actions

As your state representative, I take my oath seriously. Our district demands responsibility from our citizenry. We will refuse to let our fellow Missourians fall prey to tough times, but we ask in return that those who seek our help also work to help themselves.

This week, we spent many hours working on a bill that does just that. House Bill 30, passed by the House this week, would prevent drug-users from receiving welfare benefits. The bill calls for the Department of Social Services to set up a drug-testing program for work-eligible applicants and recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). This is a cash-aid program and currently has no restrictions for those who may use illegal substances. This program currently exists in 10 other states, and we are working to make Missouri the eleventh.

The bill has very reasonable provisions. In order to be tested, there must be "reasonable cause" to believe the individual is using illegal drugs. They must receive an administrative hearing before any test is administered. If the hearing confirms reasonable cause, then they must undergo a test. Should they test positive, they will be declared ineligible for TANF benefits for one year. In addition, we refuse to let our citizens fall further behind, and this bill requires DSS to refer the individual to a substance abuse treatment program. In short, we remedy an issue to the taxpayer, and work to help our fellow Missourians get their lives back on track.

In my opinion, this legislation is long overdue. Many employees in private-sector businesses are subjected to drug testing. Many employees in the public sector, at the federal level, are subjected to drug testing. Our military undergoes random, indiscriminate drug testing on a regular basis. If we pay tax dollars into a system to help our fellow man, we should be allowed to demand accountability and responsibility for those who would receive our tax dollars. Through this legislation, we believe that we are providing a path of encouragement through incentives that will allow Missourians with a drug problem to seek the treatment they need.

Promises Made, Promises Ignored

We cannot just simply demand responsibility and accountability of our body public. We must demand it from our elected officials. We must insist that promises made should translate into promises kept. When Governor Nixon came before the General Assembly 3 months ago, he made promises: spending cuts, cuts in unnecessary state employee positions, cutting close to 50 unnecessary programs. He was cheered by the entire body, including myself, for showing a commitment to fiscal responsibility, and promising to put himself up as a fiscal watchdog.

Fast-forward to the present, and promises made have translated into promises ignored. Our reserves of hundreds of millions of dollars have sank to about $13 million. By comparison, the state's monthly payroll for employees alone is at $93 million-quite a difference. The governor has "borrowed" over $325 million from the reserves--funds which are rarely used except in case of emergencies and natural disasters that nobody could have planned for. He has not done this to provide emergency relief, but instead to avoid cutting the unnecessary programs that he highlighted. He has rushed to the forefront to look like a good guy, but seems to have dropped his principles and backbone along the way. In our current economic climate, we cannot afford to spend taxpayer dollars on unnecessary ventures and refuse to store money away in case of true emergencies. The Missouri General Assembly worked for years to build an emergency reserve. In 3 months, nearly all of it has been squandered. Promises made-promises ignored.

Further, it seems as if our former Attorney General is close to violating the law of the state. By law, these funds in their entirety, plus interest, must be paid back by May 15th. I'm not an economist, nor a financial planner, but I fail to see how the Governor plans on returning even the amount of the funds in just one month, let alone the interest accrued. We can't figure out the answer, especially since he's going so far as to delay tax refunds to our citizens due to his shortage in state funds. Promises made-promises ignored.

In doing this, another promise was ignored-the promise of bipartisanship. He never once informed the House or Senate about tapping into the state's savings account. In the past, governors from both sides of the aisle have scheduled working meetings with the General Assembly to prepare and execute a solid budget. Not this time. We were not informed through meetings or even through the governor's staff, but instead through the news story of an enterprising reporter. Promises made-promises ignored.

These troubling developments leaves me with many questions. His declarations of reduced spending: promises made-promises ignored. Cutting unnecessary programs? Promises made-promises ignored. Bipartisanship? Promises made-promises ignored. Rest assured, my colleagues and I in the House are looking for answers on how to clean up this budgeting mess that was created not by acts of God but instead by acts of the Governor. And, even if he refuses to keep his promises to manage our taxpayer dollars responsibly, we will step in and work to make it right. We owe it to hard-working Missourians and their families.

Working With You,
Mark