Policy Alerts

Beginning January 1, 2024, the Missouri minimum wage increased to $12.30/hour for most workers. The increase follows a 2018 referendum that raised the minimum wage to $12/hour over five years and will continue to adjust the minimum wage every following year based on changes in the cost of living.

Yesterday, the Respect for Marriage Act was codified into law and it will go a long way toward protecting families and promoting child wellbeing. The recognition of same-sex marriages allows children to be raised by loving same-sex parents who are committed to one another and to their children.

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, nationwide nearly two-thirds of child care providers have closed, leaving working parents struggling to find reliable care. Without additional public funding, over four million providers of early childhood care and education (ECE) across the United States are at risk of permanently closing.

Over the past year, the Trump administration has proposed a series of changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that would systematically prevent millions of Americans from receiving needed benefits. The most recent adjustment would alter the way utilities costs are calculated in order to determine eligibility. The change could mean that nearly one in five current recipients lose up to $75 in monthly benefits or are removed from the program entirely.

Over the past 10 years, many states that previously prosecuted 16- and 17-year-old offenders in the adult judicial system have raised the age to 18. This trend has occurred in response to a growing body of research demonstrating the harmful effects of incarcerating children in the adult corrections system, and a corresponding nationwide campaign to “Raise the Age” of adult court jurisdiction.

Violence in the Northern Triangle region of Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras) has prompted thousands of individuals, families and unaccompanied minors to seek protection and asylum in the United States – many arriving by way of the U.S./Mexican border. As of July 22, 2019, approximately 10,000 Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) were in care of the Health and Human Services, and at least 2,648 immigrant children have been separated from their parents or caregivers, largely due to the Administration’s “zero tolerance policy” that was initiated in April 2018.

The Affordable Care Act is credited with expanding healthcare coverage to more than 20 million previously-uninsured Americans – a significant achievement for the United States as access to healthcare is a major driver of health outcomes. Still, access alone will not eliminate racial health disparities, ranging from increased infant mortality rates to decreased life expectancy.

In 2017, legislation passed in Missouri that weakened the Missouri Human Rights Act (MHRA), making it more difficult to prove discrimination. The modification to the MHRA by Senate Bill 43 formed the basis of the NAACP’s first ever statewide travel advisory against Missouri, and was cited as a key reason why the state is on Fodor’s Travel Guide’s 2018 “No List” of places not to visit.

In October 2017, the Center for Health Economics & Policy at the Institute for Public Health and the Clark-Fox Policy Institute at the Brown School at Washington University hosted Transforming Healthcare in Missouri: Ideas for Innovation and Investment to generate ideas for improving healthcare in Missouri.

President Trump’s 2019 budget proposes significant alterations to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) which could result in an estimated eligibility cut for at least 4 million people, and reduce program funding by $213 billion over the next ten years.