JEFFERSON CITY 鈥 When Gov. Mike Parson unveiled his spending priorities in January, he titled his budget blueprint for the taxpayers of Missouri as 鈥淣ot done yet.鈥
With little more than a month to go before lawmakers are required to get the plan to his desk, the title remains true.
With a bulging cash balance and heaps of federal pandemic aid still available, members of the Republican-controlled Missouri House appeared on track late Tuesday to give initial approval to a $50 billion spending plan that will almost assuredly be reworked in part by their GOP colleagues in the Senate.
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Disagreements over how to implement Parson鈥檚 plan to expand traffic-choked sections of Interstate 70 and his bid to boost funding for child care and early child education will likely dominate negotiations between the two chambers as they race toward a May 5 deadline to finish their work on the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
On Tuesday, the Republican-controlled House slogged through hourslong debate over how to divvy up the state鈥檚 record-setting largesse, facing speed bumps over issues ranging from defunding public libraries to raising the pay of caretakers who contract with the state to provide services to the disabled.
Much of the debate focused on outraged Democrats pushing back against Republicans seeking to insert culture war issues into the state鈥檚 spending plan.
A debate over school funding became emotional amid Rep. Doug Richey鈥檚 push to insert anti-diversity language into the budget as part of a campaign by Republicans.
In the $9.7 billion education budget, the 鈥榮 amendment would bar the agency from hiring vendors and consultants who promote issues like 鈥渃ollective guilt ideologies鈥 or inclusion.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 dangerous to a free society,鈥 said Richey, of Excelsior Springs. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 crippling our society.鈥
Democrats said the so-called 鈥渁nti-woke鈥 effort, which Richey was adding to each agency budget, is racist and should not be part of the budget discussion.
鈥淭his amendment is very dangerous. It鈥檚 taking us back to the Jim Crow laws,鈥 said Rep. Marlene Terry, D-Bellefontaine Neighbors, who chairs the legislative Black caucus.
The amendment was adopted on a near party line 97-48 vote.
Following the initial vote, Rep. Jo Doll, D-Webster Groves, tweeted, 鈥淲hite supremacy is alive and well in the MO house.鈥
The spending plan backed by Rep. Cody Smith, R-Carthage, also would cut all $4.5 million in state funding that libraries were slated to get next fiscal year.
Rep. Cody Smith, R-Carthage, at the microphone during budget debate on Tuesday, March 28, 2023.
Smith, chairman of the House Budget Committee, said he鈥檚 upset that state and school libraries are suing to overturn a new Missouri law that bans sexually explicit material in school libraries. He said the state shouldn鈥檛 subsidize the lawsuit with funding.
Democrats accused Republicans of trying to ban books, but were unable to reverse the cuts, for now.
The House spending plan restores the Republican governor鈥檚 $134 million request for child care subsidies after Smith had earlier suggested it should be lowered.
Parson and business groups have called for an increase in child care and pre-K programs, arguing that there is a significant shortage of child care that is affecting the ability of parents to work.
The House proposal includes changes to one of Parson鈥檚 biggest requests, an expansion of traffic-clogged parts of I-70, including a stretch near Wentzville.
Rather than place $859 million in the state鈥檚 transportation budget, the House plan moves it to a separate pool of money for major construction projects.
In addition, some of that I-70 money will be diverted to a widening of Interstate 44 in Springfield, as well as an engineering study of I-44 for possible future expansion elsewhere on the route.
Changes are expected in the Senate, where the chief budget writer, Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, favors a longer term expansion plan for I-70, which includes borrowing money to add a third lane in each direction.
The plan under consideration also does away with Parson鈥檚 request for an inflation-based 7% increase for the state鈥檚 public universities worth $59 million. Smith rammed through a compromise to give the schools 5% increases, leaving the remaining 2% unspent pending the outcome of a performance-based funding model.
Rep. John Black, R-Marshfield, supported the new funding scheme, saying past models were based on politics and not the educational outcomes at the universities.
The House also is poised signed off on a plan to allow the Department of Mental Health and the Missouri Veterans Commission to outsource food service to a private company. The move follows a similar plan enacted last year for the Department of Corrections, which then issued a $45 million contract to Philadelphia-based government services giant Aramark.
Rep. Tony Lovasco, R-O鈥橣allon, failed in an effort to prohibit the Department of Corrections from continuing to carry out the death penalty, essentially ending executions in the state.
鈥淚t鈥檚 time that we end this practice in Missouri,鈥 Lovasco said.
The measure was rejected on an 87-63 vote.
Democrats, who are in a super minority, were unable to win approval for added funding for school safety, teacher raises and after school programs.
But they were not completely shut out of the process.
Rep. Peter Merideth, D-最新杏吧原创, was able to insert $700,000 into the education funding bill to help Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in 最新杏吧原创 deal with the aftermath of last year鈥檚 shooting that killed a teacher and a student.
In a bid to boost the recruitment and retention of workers, the education budget includes $3 million to open and operate a child care facility for law enforcement employees in 最新杏吧原创.
The chamber is expected to put a final stamp of approval on the package Thursday, giving the Senate its chance to put its imprint on the plan beginning next week.
The legislation is .
Originally posted at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 28.
Missouri's Legislature reflects the federal structure in many ways. Video by Beth O'Malley
