With three weeks left in the Missouri Legislature’s regular session, the state Senate is primed to pass its version of a roughly $48 billion state budget this week.
The Senate Appropriations Committee changes include fully funding the formula used to bankroll K-12 public education and removing the governor’s $50 million request for a scholarship program to send K-12 students to private school. The House backed Gov. Mike Kehoe’s requests on both items.
The committee’s plan restores $107 million in federal funding that Kehoe requested for childcare providers to be paid at the beginning of the month and based on enrollment.
It boosts core funding for Missouri’s public colleges and universities by 3%, instead of the 1.5% request by the governor and House.
Last but not least, it restores the governor’s pay plan for state government workers to a 1% raise for every two years of employment, capped at a 10% hike.
Once the Senate passes its budget proposal, House and Senate budget negotiators are expected to work out their differences.
The deadline to pass a balanced state budget is May 9th.
Once the upper chamber completes its work on the budget bills, there could be another attempted Senate vote to overturn a minimum wage/paid sick leave law. The paid sick leave provisions are set to begin May 1, so time is of the essence for lawmakers hoping to undo the vote of the people.
Over the past two weeks, Senate Democrats have successfully blocked two attempted votes on House Bill 567. With the Thursday deadline looming and Democrats emboldened by their successful standoffs, will it take Republicans using a touchy maneuver, known as the previous question, to force a vote. Or will both parties play nice and find a compromise they are willing to live with?
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