Love note from Jeff City

Greetings My Fellow Missourians,

In-district news this week is the Hogles Creek Bridge on Highway 82 twelve miles East of Osceola is due to be open for traffic this Friday May 8th. This was shared to me by our Area Mo-Dot Engineer. My “Hat’s Off” to Mo-Dot and the Contacting Crew who worked during this C-Virus issue and got the new floor re-construction project done within the 60 day time frame.

House approves fiscally responsible spending plan

As lawmakers returned to the State Capitol Building this week to continue the 2020 legislative session, they faced the difficult task of crafting a balanced state budget during a time when revenues are declining because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the challenge of making significant cuts in order to balance the budget, House members were able to approve a fiscally responsible spending plan that preserves funding for vital services such as K-12 education and provides new funding to support the state’s efforts to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus.

The budget approved by the House this week achieves the $700 million in savings primarily by eliminating new decision items. In total the budget removes approximately $454 million in new items that had been recommended by the governor or the House Budget Committee. The House Budget Committee chairman noted that by finding savings in these areas, few state services would be impacted.

Funding for K-12 education is almost entirely preserved at the same level it is currently funded in the Fiscal Year 2020 budget. As it came to the floor, the budget plan included a $7.1 million decrease to funding for school transportation that was put in place by the governor. During discussion on the House floor, members approved amendments to soften that reduction to only $2.2 million. The budget plan also authorizes up to an additional $2 billion in spending authority for K-12 public schools should additional federal funds become available to support education.

Additionally, the plan approved by the House authorizes another $54.6 million in funding from the federal CARES Act for emergency education relief funds. The funds can be used for K-12 education, higher education, or any combination of the two the governor may choose. The FY 21 budget also includes another $304 million in spending authority for the governor for public two-year and four-year institutions should federal funds become available to support them.

The budget bills now move to the Senate for approval. The General Assembly has until May 8 to complete work on the Fiscal Year 2021 state operating budget.