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Justus busy introducing legislation

Wednesday, 04 March 2009 01:00

Making progress in politics often takes time.
Missouri state Sen. Jolie Justus, D-5th District, learned that early in her first term and she is hoping some of her work might start paying off.
“When I first got down to Jefferson City, someone told me it takes three years to get through legislation,” Justus said. “I was able to pass a dozen laws my first two years, but some of those were just for little fixes. For the bigger things and new ideas, you have to shepherd those bills through.”
Justus said she still is working to pass legislation on her top priorities: raising the limit on child care subsidies, foster care education reform and economic development.
Justus said that for the first time she is making some progress with Republicans on child care subsidies. Justus said Senate floor Republican leader Kevin Engler is a co-sponsor of her bill to raise child care subsidy rates this year, adding that she also has some female Republicans supporting the bill.
“We try to attack it from every angle,” Justus said. “It’s important to have kids in quality day care so that young minds are stimulated. If we do this now, in the future it will cut down the need for prisons. We also attack it from the angle that it’s good for businesses’ bottom lines. Every dollar we increase the subsidy means that more moms are in the workplace and are productive.”
Justus said some business owners have testified in past sessions that employees have refused raises because the money would put them barely over the limit for subsidies. A hearing on the bill comes today and Justus expects to hear some powerful testimony.
Justus said Missouri ranks 49th of the 50 states in child care subsidy levels. She said parents who earn more than $18,000 lose out on subsidies.
Justus also has worked on a bill about the human papillomavirus. The bill would provide female students entering the sixth grade in public schools the option of receiving an immunization for HPV. The bill would allow those who cannot afford to pay for the immunization to have it financed publically.
Justus said she has worked on the bill for three years, getting it passed through the Senate the first two years, but failing to get it passed by the House.
“One of the things I’ve done with the HPV bill is work with folks on the right side and left side of the political spectrum,” Justus said. “One of the groups to testify in favor of the bill was the Missouri Family Network. That’s a conservative Christian organization. Not only did they testify in favor of the bill, but they lobbied the more conservative members of the body. They know it’s a good, pro-family bill.”
Justus said when she filed the original bill three years ago, the group had issues with some of the language, but she said she changed the language to make the bill more agreeable to all groups.
Justus said knowing many of the same people in the state Legislature has come in handy for pushing legislation.
“I’m finding it to be much easier,” Justus said. “People are educated on the issues. I’ve come at them every year like a broken record. They know what the issue is, so it’s a little bit easier. But this is the first year there has been some turnover in the Senate and there are new senators with new opinions.”
Justus said she and other area legislators met with the Kansas City and Grandview mayors and city council members Feb. 18 to discuss their priorities. She said Kansas City wants help with child care subsidies, as well as festival districts and tax-free zones. She said Grandview is looking for help in generating more tax dollars.
Justus said she also does plenty of communicating with her peers in the Missouri House like Jason Holsman and Jason Kander.
“We talk about specific issues,” Justus said. “They may say, “Hey, I need help with this. Can you carry this on the Senate side?’ or I may say, ‘Can you carry this on the House side?’ We spend quite a bit of time talking about the issues and trying to coordinate our efforts.”
Justus said she does not try to measure success each session by how many pieces of legislation she can get through, but how the legislation passed affects the state.
“If we can pass laws that protect the most vulnerable and don’t pass laws just for law’s sake, that’s a good thing,” Justus said. “I find a session successful if we leave the people in a better place without adding any burdens.”

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