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House Budget Chair introduces appropriations bills for Fiscal Year 2014:
$1.9 million federal funding increase for domestic violence services included in Department of Social Services budget bill
Appropriations Overview: House budget bills filed on 2-14-13
• Increased funding for domestic violence services included in Department of Social Services
• Level funding for VOCA and STOP grants, reduction in SSVF grant funding in Department of Public Safety
• Level funding for Rape Prevention and Education grants in Department of Health and Senior Services
The budget bills for the coming fiscal year were filed on Thursday, 2-14-13, by the House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Rick Stream (R-Kirkwood). An increase of $1.9 million in federal funds for domestic violence services was included in House Bill 11, the Fiscal Year 2014 budget for the Department of Social Services. The funding increase is a budget priority first proposed by Governor Jay Nixon in his budget for the state fiscal year that begins July 1, 2013.
The appropriations bills, as filed by Rep. Stream, do not contain nearly $1 billion in federal funds for Medicaid expansion and subsequently do not distribute state funding savings throughout the budget as was proposed by Gov. Nixon.
Link here to view bills under the Joint Information menu, then Joint Bill information tab on the Missouri General Assembly website.
Primary budget bills of interest to MCADSV members
Below are the primary appropriations bills of interest to MCADSV and its members:
• House Bill 11 : Department of Social Services (DSS)
This bill contains the $1.9 million increase in federal funding for domestic violence services in the Family Support Division of DSS. These federal dollars are drawn from the state’s block grant of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) funds. HB 11 provides state funding for domestic violence services at $4.75 million, federal funding of $3,716,524 (includes the increase), for a total of $8,466,524 for FY2014.
• House Bill 8 : Department of Public Safety (DPS)
This bill does not make any funding changes to two grant programs in DPS: Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grants remain at $7.5 million in federal funds; and Services, Training, Officers and Prosecution (STOP) grants remain at $2.49 million in federal funds, which includes Sexual Assault Services Program (SASP) grants. There is a $1 million reduction from current funding in the line item for the State Services to Victims Fund (SSVF) grants, for a total of $4 million. The SSVF grant reduction reflects a reduced collection of crime fines, which are the source of the grant funds. The Crime Victims Compensation funding, which includes the Sexual Assault Forensic Examination (SAFE) program, also was reduced by $1 million for a total of $9.83 million.
• House Bill 10: Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) and Department of Mental Health (DMH)
This bill retains current funding for the Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) grants at $889,134. This includes a small amount of federal funding for sexual assault services grants.
• House Bill 9: Department of Corrections (DOC)
Funding to implement the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) is not broken out as a specific line item in HB 9, but that detailed budget information should be available in the coming weeks.
Next Steps: MCADSV will continue to alert members to needed actions on appropriations
House appropriations committees for each state department will make their recommendations during the week of February 18 for any budget changes in appropriations bills filed by Rep. Stream. Those amendments will be reviewed and voted on by the full House Budget Committee. Bills passed by the House Budget Committee then proceed to the full House for floor debate and passage. Appropriations bills move next to the Senate for its Appropriations Committee review, amendment and passage prior to full Senate debate. The final state budget must be passed in the exact form by both the House and the Senate by May 10, 2013.
The February edition of The MCADSV Legislative Update soon will be sent to members with full details on legislation, and needed advocacy with lawmakers, to address rape and domestic violence.
Enterprising and Professional Women-USA (EPW-USA) is an organization affiliated to the Internatinal Federation of Business and Professional Women (BPW-I). They work to develop the professional, business and leadership potential of women on all levels through mentoring, networking, skill buildking, advocacy and econimic empowerment programs and projects wround the world. Go to www.epw-usa.org.
Get involved with the passage of the ERA. Click here to review important information, action items, links to websites and email addresses.
Missouri Women's Council information and resources
The Missouri Women's Council offers information and resources on starting your own business, women in business, finding a great job, upgrading your skills, and obtaining state contracts.
The Missouri Women's Council invites women to become a member of the Women Owned Business (WOB) Network. Click here to register for free, online.
50/50 by 2020
2020 is the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage. Women make up over 50% of the U.S. population. The majority of employed workers in the United State are women. So after 90 years of having the vote how are we doing? Here's a hint. Eighteen states have no women in their current congressional delegation and 3 states have never elected a woman to Congress
Women don't run for office in the numbers men do and when they do run, many of their women constituents vote for their male opponents.
Many women's groups have been talking about a goal of women making up 50% of the Congress and 50% of state legislators by 2020 - the 50/50 by 2020 slogan. And many different groups are taking action to make that goal a reality. Here are a few of them.
Vision 2020 Launched at Drexel University
Drexel University, through its College of Medicine Institute for Women's Health and Leadership, will convene a congress of national delegates, two women from each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, to launch an action agenda to move America toward equality by 2020, the centennial celebration of the 19th Amendment.
This well-funded three-year project has a first meeting October 20-21 in Philadelphia. Google "Vision 2020 Drexel" to stay informed and meet the participants.
Rebecca Richardson, MWLC's training director, and Dayna Stock of the Sue Shear Institute were selected to represent Missouri. Apparently all areas of women's equality will be examined - even lack of women race car drivers. Fortunately, we can count on Rebecca to share her rich knowledge of Missouri efforts to bring women into elective office.
Center for American Women in Politics Launches Project 2012
Shirley Breeze, MWLC Board officer, attended a meeting in June sponsored by the Sue Shear Institute in St. Louis, to hear a representative of CAWP (Center for American Women in Politics, a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutger's University) explain its new 2012 Project.
This national, nonpartisan campaign plans to expand the number of talented women running for public office by reaching women on their own professional turf and stressing that because of the census and reapportionment, the 2012 election is a critical opportunity for women to win open seat races in newly drawn congressional districts and state legislative seats.
The 2012 Project will reach out to women engineers, medical professionals, financial officers, environmentalists, scientists and small business owners about the difference they can make as elected officials. The women will be encouraged to run and connect to organizations ready and able to offer them training and support. The 2012 Project hopes to repeat the success of 1992, "The Year of the Woman," when a record number of women ran for and won seats in Congress, and which has yet to be repeated.
MWLC's representative was disappointed only in the fact that Project 2012 apparently makes no critical difference in encouraging women whether they are for women's rights or not.
The National Women's Political Caucus now 100% for Women
Catching the current wind of political equality, the National Women's Political Caucus at its national convention in August 2009 closed the door on its small number of Caucus organizations that have been out of compliance with its original intent of endorsing and supporting women only. Organizations such as the Greater Kansas City Women's Political Caucus had until July 1, 2010 to change its bylaws and has done so.
This 38-year-old national organization has long worked at the grassroots level recruiting, training and electing multi-partisan women on all levels of government who are progressive and pro-Choice. EMILY'S List, a hugely successful 25-year-old organization, supports pro-choice Democratic candidates usually on the national level. It has now begun to work on local levels recognizing that political equality will happen sooner if more women are helped into the political pipeline.
MWLC Supports 50/50 by 2020 With a Dynamic Plan for the Missouri House
Only 22.3 % of Missouri's legislators are women. There are 8 women senators out of 34 in the Missouri State Senate - 9 short of equality.
There are 36 women in the Missouri House out of 163 - 45 women short of equality. In both houses of the Missouri Legislature women are an unempowered minority.
MWLC has a goal of 50/50 by 2020 for Missouri House. To meet that goal we need to elect 7 to 8 additional progressive women to the Missouri House in each election through 2020. MWLC has a plan to meet that goal by focusing on seats outside Kansas City and St. Louis.
The first step is recruiting good candidates. Men run for public office at a rate of 4 times that of women. If you don't run you can't win. We'll work with other women's groups as well as with our own network to find good candidates.
The second step is providing them with support in the suburbs, small towns and rural areas where they live. They'll get our Campaign in a Box, access to successful campaign advisors, networking opportunities with successful women politicians and potential supporters from across the state, and most importantly we'll raise money for their campaigns.
To reach the 50/50 by 2020 goal we need your help. We're launching a Sustaining Donors program to fund the effort. We need a reliable income through November 2020. $10, $20 or $50 from 100 of us monthly could be a real boost. Click here to go to the MWLC web site and make your pledge. You can always cancel your sustaining donation if your circumstances change.
This is a tough goal, but possible. And it requires funding from all of us. Just imagine political equality in the Missouri House by 2020. What a wonderful way to celebrate the centennial of Women's Suffrage! 1920-2020.
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