Legislation to Address Dire Budget Has Gained Support and Opposition (MO)

May 12, 2010

Several bills aimed at “rebooting” Missouri state government will likely fall short of passage in the waning days of the legislative session.

Opposition from lawmakers and a rapidly approaching deadline have effectively killed legislation to revise punishments for nonviolent criminals, combine state education departments and raid the cash balances of various state funds.

Several other bills, however, are within shouting distance of passage with three days left before lawmakers adjourn for the year at 6 p.m. Friday.

The rebooting legislation was introduced to address a dire state budget situation that has required hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to programs and services and is intended to streamline government operations and, ultimately, save money.

“Some of the big pieces are in trouble, but there are other elements that are there,” said Senate Leader Charlie Shields, a St. Joseph Republican.
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A House committee on Tuesday declined to vote on a plan to combine the state’s departments of higher education and elementary and secondary education. The change was just too large to contemplate in the final days of the session, said Higher Education Committee Chairman Gayle Kingery, a Poplar Bluff Republican.

“We need a lot more dialogue,” he said.

Kingery doubted that the merger would save the state money but said he would ask House Speaker Ron Richard to appoint a panel to review the proposal over the summer.

Also unlikely to advance is a bill that would have diverted certain nonviolent felons away from state prisons, sending them instead to county jails, probation or a court-supervised substance abuse programs.

The measure would’ve saved the state money and allowed the judicial system to shift the emphasis on drug offenders from punishment to treatment, supporters said. But it caught flak from county officials, who viewed it as an attempt to shift corrections costs from the state to counties.

Rebooting legislation on track for passage are:

•A bill to adjust the state’s formula for distributing funds to school districts, a change lawmakers maintain is critical to address the state’s budget difficulties and avoid an education funding crisis in years to come. A committee of House and Senate lawmakers must reconcile their differences over the bill.

•Bills to reduce costs in the state Medicaid health care program for the poor and to merge the state highway and water patrols also are in position for House-Senate conferences.