Governor Blunt will push to have the legislature approve the MOHELA plan,early in the legislative session, with or without a special session. Blunt is considering whether to call the legislature into special session on MOHELA. But even without a special session, Blunt wants action taken quickly in the new session on his plan to finance college capital improvements, what he sees as a natural follow-up from the end of the last session when the Senate approved a resolution endorsing the plan. Blunt has been working hard to build support for his effort to finance $350 million in capital improvements, mainly to colleges and mainly for bio-technology. The money would come from a sell-off of assets by the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority. Blunt notes the MOHELA board, the Missouri Development Finance Board, the Department of Economic Development and the Coordinating Board for Higher Education have all endorsed the plan. Blunt, the House Speaker and the Senate Leader have all signed agreements on proposed MOHELA legislation. The Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative relies on the MOHELA sale for its financing. The legislation sought by the governor would give protection to the MOHELA board from lawsuits which might be filed by opponents of the governor’s plan.
