May 20, 2013

You are here: Home / Archives for FY 2013 budget

Governor Nixon announces cuts to FY 2013 budget (VIDEO)

June 22, 2012 By

Governor Jay Nixon says the budget approved by the Missouri legislature is more than $50 million out of balance, and he took today what he says is the first step toward righting it.

Governor Jay Nixon announces budget cuts (click image for video)

The Governor announced about $15 million dollars in restrictions. The largest is a one percent across-the-board cut to the state’s higher education institutions totaling 8.48 million dollars.

Nixon cites three factors that he says throw the legislature’s budget off-balance: it counts on $35 million increase in lottery proceeds beyond the projections of the State Lottery Commission, it reduces funding for disaster recovery expenses by $11 million below projections, and three pieces of legislature that haven’t yet been acted on could reduce state revenue by $12.5 million.

Some lawmakers said the Governor’s office had agreed to the lottery projection used in the budget, but Nixon today called it a “rosy projection.” 

The Governor said the proposed cuts to disaster funding come “at a time when the state must pay actual obligations and invoices for recovery efforts already performed in Joplin and other hard-hit areas.” 

The three pieces of legislation Nixon refers to are Senate Bills 480 and 470, which contain provisions that would enact a new sales tax exemption totaling around $1.5 million, HB 1661 that would expand a small business tax deduction to additional businesses equaling about $6 million and HB 1504, that expands the number and types of businesses that can claim a tax refund, which represents about $5 million.

See a summary of the Governor’s cuts (link goes to PDF).

Nixon expressed hope that no additional cuts will be needed. “My sense is that we’re beginning to see the kind of turnaround that, if it continues, will continue to provide additional resources for the state. We’ve seen the unemployment rate tick down, we’ve seen continued investment in the state … and so we’ll watch it real closely.”

He said the legislature cut money from newborn screenings, early childhood education and disaster recovery and moved those funds to higher education, which he said was “not the right path forward for the state.”

Nixon also vetoed three programs. He says the passage of $80,000 for a Blues in Schools program circumvented the process that’s in place to select humanities grants and keep that selection fair and accountable. A $130,000 port financial assistance program lacked language identifying a specific port and so had to be vetoed on that technicality. He says Boone County is not statutorily authorized to be reimbursed civil commitment legal fees, which was a $30,000 item.

Filed Under: Economy, Featured, Human Interest, Legislature, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

House-Senate committee to consider blind pension fund eligibility restrictions

May 17, 2012 By

Whether eligibility restrictions will be added to the blind medical subsidy fund will next be considered by House and Senate conferees.

Representative Ryan Silvey (photo courtesy, Missouri House Communications)

The legislature’s budget proposal added such restrictions to that fund in the budget, which some lawmakers and the Governor say is meaningless without accompanying language in statute.

House Budget Chairman Ryan Silvey (R-Kansas City) offered that language as an amendment to a Senate bill dealing with home health care issues.

“We had taken in (the budget) the requirements of the SCHIP program and applied them to the blind healthcare program. Again, House Bill 2011 got signatures of every member of the conference committee, republican, democrat, House and Senate, and we passed the bill out of both chambers.”

See Silvey’s amendment offered to SB 854

The Senate refused to accept the House’s version of the bill and sent it back. The House has requested a conference to settle the chambers’ differences.

See our earlier stories on the blind pension fund in the state budget.

The House representatives on that conference committee are Representatives Silvey, Thomas Long (R-Battlefield), Jay Barnes (R-Jefferson City), Rory Ellinger (D-University City) and Judy Morgan (D-Kansas City).

Filed Under: Finance, Health & Medicine, Human Interest, Legislature, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , , ,

House leaders consider legality of blind pension compromise

May 11, 2012 By

Some say the way the House and Senate budget conferees compromised to fund the blind medical subsidy fund won’t pass constitutional muster.

(left to right) Representatives Sara Lampe, Mike Talboy and Ryan Silvey (photo courtesy; Missouri House Communications)

The compromise was to include over $24 million dollars for the fund and to add language to the budget that restricts eligibility for it based on income levels, then provide over $3 million additional dollars through premiums and copays resulting from the eligibility guidelines.

Governor Jay Nixon’s office has released a statement saying adding those restrictions “through the budget process does not change existing law – and is invalid.”

House Minority Floor Leader Mike Talboy (D-Kansas City) agrees. “As early as 2010, and a myriad of cases beforehand, state … language in the budget that attempts to legislate is invalid.”

The ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, Sara Lampe (D-Springfield), says Governor Nixon should know what he’s talking about. “The Governor clearly comes out of the Attorney General’s office and he probably knows more about that than I do, but we clearly have to look at that.”

Lampe says if the legislature’s proposal doesn’t stand, she doesn’t know where else the $3 million-plus dollars would come from except education.

House Budget Committee Chairman Ryan Silvey (R-Kansas City) says putting directive language in a budget is not a new practice. “The appropriations bills are also laws, and to say that we don’t put direction on how to spend an appropriation in the budget is to have not read the budget. I mean, we do it all over the budget.”

In fact, Silvey says, the language the Committee used is based on that for the State Children’s Health Insurance (SCHIP) program, and was found in that section of the budget.

See the eligibility  language for the SCHIP program (Section 11.555) and the Blind Pension (Section 11.128)

House Democrats say the Republican majority might amend the eligibility language from the blind pension section of the budget to another bill and pass it before the end of the session, on Friday.

Filed Under: Economy, Featured, Health & Medicine, Legislature, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , , , ,

Budget Conference Committee sends proposal back to House, Senate

May 9, 2012 By

The House-Senate Budget Conference Committee has wrapped up its work, leaving it up to the two chambers whether to approve the fiscal year 2013 spending plan and send it to the Governor.

Budget Conference Committee Co-Chairmen Kurt Schaefer (center of image) and Ryan Silvey (right). Photo courtesy: Missouri House Communications

As part of an agreement that ended a deadlock in the Senate, the Committee proposes dividing $3 million between seven institutions instead of the $2 million that had been allocated just to Southeast Missouri State University. The institutions and the amounts they will get are: Missouri Western State University – $516,559, Southeast Missouri State University – $885,969, Northwest Missouri State University – $515,476, Missouri Southern State University – $346,521, University of Central Missouri – $580,377, Lincoln University – $49,663 and Truman State University – $105,435.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kurt Schaefer (R-Columbia) told the conference committee that under the agreement, the Senate added to veterans home funding legislation a requirement that the Joint Education Committee develop a funding formula for higher education by 2015.

The Committee agreed to propose restoring $25 million to the Blind Medical Subsidy Fund, which the House had recommended cutting in its original budget proposal. The Committee added language to treat it like the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) children’s Medicaid program, limiting the program to those earning up to three times the poverty level and requiring copays or premiums for some income levels.

This answered the concerns of House Budget Committee Chairman Ryan Silvey (R-Kansas City), who didn’t like that it was open to people of all income levels. “The only means test that they employed was do they make too much to qualify for Medicaid? If so, you’re on the program. Now they’ll have to obviously means test those that are on the program and if you make over 300 percent, which by the way is over $57,000 a year for a family of three, if you’re making more than that then you’re not going to qualify for the program.”

In a statement, a Governor’s Office praises the restoration of money to the fund but opposes the proposed limitations. A Jay Nixon spokesman says, “the attempt to place additional limitations on eligibility through the budget process does not change existing law – and is invalid. We will ensure that this program continues to serve all 2,800 needy, blind Missourians who depend on it.”

See the budget bills

The Committee’s plan would language that would have pulled funding from the Sue Shear Institute for Women in Politics at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, but left a section that says institutions participating in political activity can not receive state funding.

Schaefer says that just reflects current law, “which is that no money going to higher education should be used for political activity. Whether it’s the Sue Shear Institute or anything else, if it’s public money that’s being used through public education to fund political activity, that already was basically against the law anyway.”

The Committee proposed restoring $3 million to the tourism budget, leaving it about $200,000 below what it was before the Senate cut it in its original budget proposal. The Committee also settled on $750 thousand for regional autism projects. The House had originally proposed $1 million dollars for those, with the Senate having proposed no funding.

Earlier in the week its members opted to go with the House’s proposal that all state workers making under $70,000 a year would receive a 2 percent raise beginning July 1.

Its proposal now goes back to the House and Senate for consideration. Per the Constitution, the budget must be delivered to the Governor by Friday.

Filed Under: Economy, Featured, Legislature, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , , ,

House and Senate leaders spar on why budget conference is being held up

May 4, 2012 By

The state Constitution requires that the new budget be sent to the Governor by a week from today, but the House-Senate Conference Committee has yet to start formal work on it. Leaders from both chambers have very different takes on why that is.

Representative Ryan Silvey (left, courtesy: Missouri House Communications) and Senator Rob Mayer (right)

House Budget Committee Chairman Ryan Silvey (R-Kansas City) says the Senate has to pass veterans home funding before the conference committee can know how much money it has to budget. The House on Wednesday passed a bill to pay for veterans services with casino boarding fees, and early childhood programs with tobacco settlement money.

Silvey says the House has told the Senate twice that the proposal is ready, and says he’s “baffled” that the Senate hasn’t acted on it. “Clearly (Senate President Pro-Tem) Rob Mayer (R-Dexter) is playing games with veterans and children. It’s disappointing … it’s frustrating.”

Mayer says he isn’t aware of any messages from the House about that bill, SB 498. “What I was told … that (the House was) going to take the bill back and try to … put some additional language on that the Senate had requested.”

House leadership says that is not the case.

Mayer says he’s confident veterans funding will be addressed by the end of the session on May 18, even if it isn’t done by the budget deadline, May 11.

“In the past years we have taken up the budget and passed it prior to legislation being passed and approved.”

Mayer says he’s more concerned with how the budget work is being done.

“Why have all these backdoor, behind-the-scenes discussions? Why not have openness and transparency and go through each line item that is conferenceable [sic] and explain the Senate position and the House position, let the general public hear what’s going on and the reasons for the level of funding or lack of funding or the elimination of funding.”

Mayer adds, “This makes the second year in a row that for some reason, the junior budgeter in the House doesn’t want to have public conference committee hearings. I don’t understand it.”

Silvey questions the Senator’s memory.

“Apparently he doesn’t remember being appropriations chair with Chairman (Allen) Icet, because we’re not doing anything differently that hasn’t been done for decades in this building. And, (our budget plans) will all be public (at the conference committee’s next meeting) on Monday.”

Mayer says Silvey is mistaken when he says how the current budget conferees are operating is the way he did it when he was in their position.

“I know that you have to have some discussions to work out some of the details outside of the actual public hearing process, but at the end of the day … we always had conference committee hearings. We never failed to have conference committee hearings.”

The budget conference committee will meet again on Monday.  When asked if it has a plan ready in case a veterans home funding plan isn’t passed, Silvey says, “Not yet, but we will.”

Filed Under: Economy, Featured, Legislature, News, Politics & Government Tagged With: , , , ,