Now that both chambers of the General Assembly have completed work on their versions of the 2009 Fiscal Year budget bills, conferees from both chambers will soon get together to iron out the differences.
Senator Gary Nodler (R-Joplin), the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, says that while there are several minor differences the biggest one is found in how the two chambers plan to address funding for the Insure Missouri health proposal – It’s a $37-million difference.
Nodler thinks negotiators from both chambers can sit down and start to reconcile their differences on the $22.6-billion budget sometime this week, perhaps Wednesday. The Missouri Constitution requires that work on the budget be completed by one week before the end of the session. That’s May 9th this year as the session wraps up on May 16th.
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