Issues
The Missouri IMPACT Board of Directors has set the priorities listed below for the 2008 legislative session. Updates on each of these issues will be sent to MO IMPACT Partners for Justice every Friday throughout the legislative session (January-May).
Health Care/Medicaid Reform -- IMPACT continues to work for restoring Medicaid funding to those affected by recent cuts as well as others. IMPACT believes that no one including working families, the elderly, and the disabled, should be left without health care coverage. Last year the legislature authorized revisions on the Medicaid program and renamed it MO HealthNet.
Governor Blunt has proposed a new health care structure called Insure Missouri. This program is a privately run managed care program for working adults with incomes below 100% of the federal poverty level. IMPACT will continue to work with coalition partners to evaluate this and other health care proposals during the legislative session.
Education -- IMPACT affirms that public school education is every child's civil right. Public education is the cornerstone of our social, economic, and political structure and is of utmost significance in the development of our moral, ethical, and cultural values. Missouri IMPACT calls upon its members and partners to support positive legislative action which increases and fairly distributes funding for public education. To view Missouri IMPACT's theological statement on public education, please click here.
Tax Reform/Tax Justice -- IMPACT asserts that Missouri continues to be in a deep financial crisis. Over the past several years, Missouri has cut more than $5 billion in state services to education, health care, mental health care, and child welfare services. IMPACT will oppose all efforts to cut taxes and reduce state revenues. IMPACT will support increased state individual income and state corporate income taxes that will produce more adequate revenue to meet the basic needs of its citizens and promote the common good with taxes that are just and fair and based upon ability to pay. IMPACT believes that tax revenues are the primary source of Missouri's investment in the well being of its citizens and the common good of all. To view Missouri IMPACT's theological statement on tax reform/tax justice, please click here.
Restorative Justice -- IMPACT has historically gone on record in opposition to the death penalty for the following reasons:
- The conviction that it is a moral offense and is fundamentally incompatible with our commitment to peace and justice;
- The lack of evidence that it is a deterrent to violent crime and murder;
- The lack of fairness in administering the death penalty; and
- The perpetration of violence by the state contributes to a culture of violence.
The concept of restorative justice must be incorporated in all levels of the criminal justice system in the state of Missouri.
Immigration -- IMPACT believes that all people should be treated with dignity and respect; that all human beings have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and that all persons have the right not to be discriminated against based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. In keeping with these principles as it relates to current and future Missouri legislation we affirm that:
- Undocumented immigrants need an opportunity to integrate into the community in which they live;
- Immigration laws need to be reformed to reflect our economy's needs; and
- Missouri should offer basic humanitarian assistance, such as food and health care, without regard to legal status.
To view Missouri IMPACT's theological statement regarding Immigration, please click here.
Predatory Lending -- IMPACT will continue to monitor the implementation of legislation affecting the payday loan industry while exploring additional areas where the working poor are preyed upon by unscrupulous lenders.