Legislative achievements proved naysayers wrong

When the legislative session opened in January, some warned that election year politics would block progress on key bills. The gloomy forecasts were mistaken. I have received many important bills and a fiscally responsible budget that puts children and taxpayers first.
For the fourth year in a row, we balanced the state’s budget without job-killing new taxes.
We kept our promise to make education our highest priority in the state budget. The legislature again answered my call to increase funding for education. There will be a $121 million increase for elementary and secondary schools; a $43 million funding gain for colleges and universities; and $23 million in new money to nearly quadruple needs-based scholarships to almost $100 million over these four years.
We ended education cuts and withholdings. We increased education funding by $1.2 billion over four years, the largest such increase without new taxes in Missouri history.
To support students and teachers, we enacted a new law allowing experienced profession- als to teach through alternative certification. We also kept our pledge of $31 million for con- struction, renovation and im- provement of the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center at the University of Missouri, and $15 million for the Pharmacy and Nursing Building at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Throughout the legislative session, I said there were two priorities the General Assembly should address, or I would call a Special Session. These are protection from runaway local property taxes, and fighting illegal immigration. Lawmakers delivered on both issues.
State government does not set local property tax rates, but we took action to reform the system that increases taxes automatically, merely on reass- essment. The leadership secured passage for mandatory levy rollbacks and truth in taxation, by ending back-door increases.
We pushed forward with some of the nation’s toughest laws to crack down on illegal immigration, including making permanent my law enforcement directives. Lawmakers approved new penalties for helping pro- cure a driver’s license by fraud; banned “sanctuary cities”; made it a crime to transport any illegal immigrant for exploitive purpos- es, including illegal labor; and, in a vital step, enacted new pro- tections to bar welfare for illegal immigrants.
The legislature also approved many anti-crime initiatives that I outlined. These include forcing repeat drunk driving offenders to modify their vehicles with ignition interlocks before they can regain a driver’s license; giving law enforcement some of the strongest tools in the coun- try to fight metal and copper theft; providing critical funding for anti-meth task forces and creating a real-time tracking system for the purchase of key meth ingredients.
Legislators also passed laws to protect Missouri children, including requiring sex offenders to include their e-mail addresses and other online identifiers in the sex offender registry, and new protections against cyber-bullying recommended by the Internet Harassment Task Force I created after Megan Meier’s tragic death.
Protecting the sanctity of life has been a priority for me each year of my term. My budget delivers an additional $620,000 to support the state’s Alternatives to Abortion program, made permanent last year to help expectant parents choose life.
To protect the environment and improve energy efficiency, the legislature approved my proposal to create a Show-Me Green tax holiday. This ends the sales tax on Energy-Star certified appliances for one week every year. To protect homebuyers, the legislature approved new laws I recommended to fight mortgage fraud.
We continued our commitment to ensuring that families facing the challenges of autism have the resources needed for early diagnosis and treatment. The legislature approved more than $17 million in new funds for autism service, on top of the significant increases last year.
One reason that America is such a great country is that pessimists are usually mistaken. When matched with clear principles and specific goals, “can do!” is a better bet than “can’t happen.” The positive changes achieved in this session, and its three predecessors, are making Missouri an even better place to live, work and raise a family. Change is working for Missourians.