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Senate approves building repairs bond issue (AuDIO)

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The state is halfway to going another $400-million dollars in debt to fix up neglected state buildings. 

The Senate has approved a bond issue that will pay for a lot of repairs and maintenance that haven’t been done for a decade, at least.  Sponsor Mike Parson of Bolivar says another batch of money will go for something new, a mental hospital in Fulton. The bill raises the state’s debt limits , which upsets a few Senators who object and argue that the state should take money from other programs and pay for the hospital and the repairs out-of-pocket.

One critic, Senator Will Kraus of Lee’s Summit, says the legislature should have been setting the money aside each year to make the repairs on a pay-as-you go basis.  He says the bond issue puts dozens of projects ahead of any other projects or services in the state budget becuase the constitution requires paying down any state debt before money can be spent on anything else.   

The House has to approve the bond issue before the money is available for the projects.

AUDIO: Debate 6:51

Capitol, Fulton State Hospital, colleges and universities, highways all possible targets for proposed bond issue proceeds

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A proposed constitutional amendment has been filed in the Senate that would ask voters to approve almost $1 billion in bonds to use on the state’s infrastructure.

State legislators could designate the Missouri State Capitol Building in Jefferson City as one facility to use proceeds from the sale of bonds on, if those legislators and voters approve a new bond issue. (Photo courtesy: Missouri House Communications.)

Its sponsor, Senator Kurt Schaefer (R-Columbia) says now could be a better time to issue new bonds than will come for generations.

“Interest rates are so much lower now that basically for the same cost of what it cost us to borrow $600 million dollars back in the early (1980s) we could borrow $1 billion now with basically the same payoff cost because interest rates are simply so much lower, and who knows how much longer that will continue?”

Missouri has just finished paying off the bonds Schaefer refers to, approved by a majority 51 percent of Missouri voters in June, 1982 that paid for improvements to state buildings, parks and various projects like water and sewer systems, highways, rail lines and soil erosion projects.

What would the bonds pay for?

Schaefer says if approved, this bond proposal would take a similar timeframe, 25 to 30 years to pay off. As for what projects it would target, he says he has intentionally worded the bill broadly so that lawmakers can sort that out during debate.

Representative Chris Kelly (R-Columbia) will handle the bonding bill in the House. He says one likely use for bonds would be on top priority projects at each of the state’s colleges and universities.

“In many of the community colleges that’s health-related projects: training nurses, training various types of medical technicians. At the University of Missouri it’s the engineering school. At (the University of Missouri St. Louis) I think it’s the nursing school.”

Schaefer says the Fulton State Hospital needs some serious attention, for multiple reasons.

“Handling and treatment of people that are there, safety of the workers that are there … on a number of levels it really is an antiquated facility and there’s a good question of whether or not you can even modify that facility in such a way that addresses those things … or you look at a new facility.”

Also high on the list is the State Capitol Building in Jefferson City.

Kelly says, “The Capitol Building is literally a national treasure and it’s 100 years old. It’s very important that we do work to refurbish the state Capitol also.”

Schaefer adds, “At the Capitol it’s not just cosmetic, it’s structural. We’ve been putting some of those things off now for … in some of those issues, a couple decades … and if you don’t address some of those structural issues you’re going to get to a point where it may even be cost-prohibitive to do some of those repairs down the road.”

Senator Kurt Schaefer (R-Columbia) and Representative Chris Kelly (D-Columbia) will handle bonding proposals in their respective chambers. (Pictures courtesy: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications.)

The transportation question

A question hanging over the bonding issue at this stage is how transportation might be handled. Kelly wants highways included, but says it might have to go in a separate measure.

“I think most people agree that we have the work in both the regular state capital plant and in the highway stuff. The question is, ‘Can we and should we marry them?'”

Senator Mike Kehoe (R-Jefferson City) is the vice-chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee. He says transportation funding should be in a separate measure because the amount of money it requires would leave little out of a $1 billion bond issue for anything else.

“Proper funding of our highway department takes somewhere right now of $600 million to $700 million additional dollars a year than what we have.

Governor’s office declines comment

Schaefer says launching bond-supported projects now would also create needed jobs.

“I don’t know that that’s the absolute motivating factor, but certainly when you’re talking about doing a lot of capital improvement and construction it is going to employ a lot of people and there’s probably not a better time to be putting people back to work than right now with the economy the way it is.”

Governor Jay Nixon’s office has declined to issue a formal statement on the possibility of a bond proposal, but Kelly says the jobs aspect should be appealing to Nixon.

“I’m surprised that he’s not more aggressive on this because he talks about jobs and this is far and away the biggest jobs project in the state.”

Kelly says with Republican backing in both the House and the Senate the legislature can pass the measure without Nixon’s support, but he hopes Nixon will be involved.

“I hope he comes on board and I hope he’s helpful.”

See Schaefer’s proposal, SJR 3.

House set to approve $700 million bond issue

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A $700 million bond issue has passed the House, after moving through the amendment process without an amendment offered or a question asked.

Sponsor Chris Kelly, a Democratic state representative from Columbia, came to the House floor, ready to explain his measure.

“I would be glad to entertain any questions on HJR 32 ,” Kelly told colleagues. “I have bond forecasts. I’ll be glad to talk about all of that, but I will also yield to questions.”

He didn’t have to yield. No one in the House made a motion to amend the resolution. No one asked Kelly any questions. His less-than-two-minute introduction became the only talk on the House floor during the amendment process.

“I was shocked,” Kelly told reporters afterward about the lack of debate on the issue, “I wasn’t just surprised.”

Kelly said he came fully prepared for lengthy debate.

“I had all my data in, information, facts,” Kelly said. “I didn’t need any of it.”

Kelly had to defend his proposal a bit more on final approval Thursday morning. A few representatives questioned whether the state should borrow money during a recession. Kelly responded that interest rates are at historic lows and some financial managers believe the state can get a rate of 4% on the bonds.

After delivering a short introduction and receiving no questions earlier in the week, Kelly answered questions about the proposal for about 25 minutes before the House voted 131-to-28 to pass it. It now moves to the Senate for its consideration. If the legislature approves the resolution, it goes to a vote of the people.

Missouri is set to pay off the $600 million bond package approved in the 80s. Kelly said he settled on the $700 million figure, because the state can handle that amount without a tax increase. Kelly proposes to takes advantage of the $39 to 46 million allocated each year to pay off the current bond package. He envisions using that same funding stream to pay off the new bond package in 20 years, though the resolution gives the state 25 years to pay them off.

The bonds would pay for the top capital improvement priority on all four-year and two-year state college campuses. Kelly says it will make up for the failure of the Lewis and Clark Initiative to pay for college capital improvements. The sale of assets from the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority has fallen far short of projections, causing many of the capital projects in the initiative to be delayed or scrapped.

The current bond package set to be paid off this year was approved by the legislature in 1982, during the second term of then-Gov. Bond. Voters approved the package. The state issued the bonds in 1983 and 1984.

Kelly explains that the $787 billion federal economic stimulus package approved by Congress contains a provision to help states pay off bonds. Kelly drafted his resolution prior to passage of the stimulus package. He says he only needs to make a bit of adjustment for the bonds to qualify for the federal subsidy.

Download/listen Brent Martin reports (1:20 MP3)

MU System Wants To Build And Repair Buildings Through Bond Issue

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The University of Missouri wants the state to let it issue $190-Million in bonds to build and repair buildings. The University says it would raise about $110-Million more from federal and private money. More than $150-Million of those dollars would go for life-sciences projects in Columbia, Kansas City, and St. Louis. The rest would be used to renovate engineering buildings in Rolla and Columbia.

Senator Bond Issues Call To Keep Missouri River Flowing

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Senator Christopher Bond is warning Missouri governmental and business leaders to keep up their fight to keep the water flowing into the Missouri River. Bond says the Army Corps of Engineers is closing in on completion ofthe Missouri River Master Manual, which guides operation of the six upstream dams that hold or release water into the Missouri. Bond concedes the manual will change, yet he expresses confidence the changes won’t be those advocated by the Fish and Wildlife Service, which wants drastic changes to protect endangered species. Bond wants to protect navigation on the river and keep the water levels high enough to ensure water supplies and electricgeneration capabilities. The fight over the Missouri River Master Manual has been going on for 12 years. It could be resolved next year.

Senate Approves Bond Issue To Deal With Budget Crisis

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The State Senate has passed on the opportunity to go along with the Missouri House plan to authorize the sale of $150-Million in bonds to help ease the budget crisis for the remaining months of the current fiscal year. In its place, it has approved a proposal to sell revenue bonds. Senator John Russell of Lebanon sponsors the effort. He says the legislation authorizes the sale of bonds to raise $150-Million dollars for the current fiscal year and more for Fiscal Year 2004. Russell says this effort is better than the tobacco securitization effort because, he claims, it helps the state uphold its credit rating and will save the state more than $200-Million over the course of the life of the bond issue. The revenue stream for the venture would come from the state paying rent – in effect – on state-owned buildings. The House and Senate must agree to identical legislation before it can be sent to Governot Bob Holden.

New Effort In Legislature To Push Bond Issues For Schools

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Another push is being made in the state legislature to make it easier for school districts to get bond issues passed. State Representative Joan Barry of St. Louis sponsors a bill that would allow school bonds to pass with simple majorities in the April and November elections. At present, school bonds must receive either a four-sevenths or a two-thirds majority to be approved. Some members of the House committee hearing Barry’s proposal say the so-called super majority requirements protect property owners, such as farmers.

Two-billion-dollar bond issue for road-building proposal weaving its way through Legislature

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If you borrow money to buy it now…you might not have enough money to afford something else later. That fundamental argument becomes the focus of a two-billion dollar road-building proposal. A two-billion-dollar bond issue to build roads and bridges is weaving its way through the Legislature…but bonds are not free. They have to be paid for later, with interest. One suggestion in the Senate is to use money that normally pays the bills for other non-highway programs, services and institutions to pay off the bonds. Florissant Senator John Schneider says using the general fund to build roads would mean big cuts in programs such as mental health and education. One Senator suggests backers of the road bond program are only trying to set up such a major long-term financial shortfall in road-building that voters will have to enact significant gas taxes to maintain and build Missouri’s roads.

Definition of "new" raises questions for highway bond issue

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Defining a three-letter word becomes a discussion point when it comes to providing two-billion dollars for highway work. The two-billion dollar bond issue approved by the Senate would be for new construction on Missouri highways. It’s the definition of “new” that raises a question for sponsor Jim Mathewson from Senator David Klarich…after Mathewson says “new” could mean “new asphalt” as well as “new bridge.” The legislature will have a chance to make its own interpretation of “new” each year if this bond issue is approved. The transportation department would have to have legislative approval of its bond issue projects each year before money could be spent. The House and Senate have to agree on other wording too, before any money is available.

Bond gives Obama failing grade on national security issues

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Senator Bond thinks the Obama administration’s national security policies are failing the country but are making the left wing of the Democratic Party happy.

Bond, speaking from the Senate Floor, says the Obama administration–while considering which Bush adminsitration officials to put on trial for abuses of power–needs to realize that the new administration is itself on trial on national seucrity issues.  He is critical of the President’s planned closure of the Guantanamo detention facility, saying Obama has no backup plan on what to do with the terrorists that are held there.

He also says Obama has stabbed intelligence-gatherers in the back by revealing CIA documents and publicly stating that intelligence officers had made mistakes in their work. 

upload Bond’s senate speech (12:54 mp3)