Representative Chris Kelly Archives

Budget working group to take a closer look at health, social services budgets

February 23, 2012 By Mike Lear

Seven members of the House Budget Committee are going to take a closer look at areas where the budgets for the Departments of Mental Health, Health and Senior Services and Social Services might be reduced.

Representative Tom Flanigan presents part of his Appropriations Committee's budget to the full Budget Committee.

The Appropriations Committee covering those agencies recommended that New Decision Items within those budgets receive 75% funding. Chairman Tom Flanigan (R-Carthage) explained to the Budget Committee Wednesday that his intent was to force a supplemental budget in January when better information is available related to those items, and what funding is still necessary at that time can be provided. Flanigan noted that his committee does not have authority to make cuts.

The Budget Committee has now created a working group that will look at new decision items in the budget bills for those agencies for any places where similar withholds could be made. Representative Jeff Grisamore (R-Lee’s Summit) said the process would help conserve as much money as possible for the “most vulnerable people.”

See what’s in those budget bills, HB 2010 and HB 2011.

The members of the working group are Republicans Rick Stream of Kirkwood, Sue Allen of Town and Country, Grisamore and Flanigan and Democrats Chris Kelly of Columbia, Gail McCann Beatty of Kansas City and Jeanne Kirkton of Webster Groves.

Kelly says Flanigan’s withholding method is an innovative, interesting idea and he’s anxious to look into it more. “Is it reasonable to hold some money back and put it in the supplemental bill to make sure the money’s being spent correctly and targeted correctly?”

Kirkton says she is concerned for the agencies that might have to deal with those 25% withholds. “If I were a department manager I would be very nervous about it. You hope the supplemental money will be there but there’s always the ‘what if’s’. What if we had another catastrophe, what if that money’s not there, what if revenues don’t come in? We always have to worry.”

Kirkton says supplemental budget bills are expected to come out early next week, so the working group will have to work fast.

Proposals would slow down Mamtek-like bond arrangements

January 17, 2012 By Mike Lear

Two measures have been proposed in the House by a member of the committee that has looked at the Mamtek situation that would take some grease off the wheels in future, similar deals.

Representative Chris Kelly (D-Columbia)

Representative Chris Kelly (D-Columbia) says right now when communities want to issue bonds for industrial development, bond advisors & lawyers might advise the city’s credit be used, such as what happened in Moberly with Mamtek. His proposals target such arrangements.

“That is a, I think, kind of a sneaky method to avoid the Missouri Constitution, because what it does is it requires that one city council effectively bind the appropriations of further city councils without a vote of the people, and the Constitution prohibits that.”

The plan regarding communities would require a change to state statute, found in House Bill 1304, while the prevention of such state-backed bond deals requires a constitutional amendment found in House Joint Resolution 58.

Kelly acknowledges his proposal would put communities in Missouri at a disadvantage when competing with those in other states to bring in new industries, because those deals sometimes develop very quickly. Having to put certain elements before a vote of the people will significantly slow the process down. “That’s one of the things that the cities won’t like about this, but if the only thing that my bill does is it makes cities more aware of this problem, I will think that that in-and-of-itself is a good thing.”

On that line of thought, Kelly says his bill would not have to pass to sound an alarm. “I want to raise the consciousness about the danger here.”

Kelly says if his bill had been law when Mamtek was developing, the deal would have been aired better and might not have reached the stage it has. He notes, he is not critical of the people with the City of Moberly. “I am morally convinced that they did not realize that they were binding the credit of the City. The people I find fault with are the bond advisors and the bond lawyers.”

While discussing who was at fault in the Mamtek deal, Kelly says he thinks the state handled it “probably, actually about right. There’s a lot of political motivation to blame (The Department of) Economic Development because the governor’s a Democrat. But I think the Department of Economic Development handled this under (Governor Jay) Nixon the same way that they handled these under (Governor Matt) Blunt and it’s just handy now that this one went south, to try to find a political way to blame Nixon.

Kelly is not saying that DED could not have done better in certain areas involving communication or contributions to due diligence. “At any given time in any operation … you can find ways to make improvements.” He adds, “if there were sins here, they were pretty venial sins.”

State representatives look to bolster veterans homes

January 16, 2012 By Mike Lear

Members of the House Appropriations Committee on Public Safety and Corrections are looking for ways to get more money to the state’s veterans homes.

Chairman Chris Kelly (D-Columbia) says over the years, some of the funds that used to go to those homes has been funneled in other directions. “Early the veterans homes didn’t need all the money that was going there so some of it went to early childhood and some of it went to some other programs. Now the problem is our veterans homes are in pretty serious shape both in terms of the need for repair and maintenance and for the ongoing cost of the operations.”

Representative Chris Kelly (left), Representative Galen Higdon (center) and Representative Sheila Solon

Another Committee member, Representative Galen Higdon (R-St. Joseph) says veterans are waiting in line to get into those facilities. “There’s at least over 1800 now in the state and of course it’s compounding as veterans come back.”

Kelly has filed what he’s called the “loose change” bill, that would allow casino patrons to donate a portion of their winnings to the state Veterans Commission. “There’s always some change when you’re ready to check out. You have like $45 and 27 cents or 85 cents or some cents. We’d like the law to say that the customer gets asked, ‘Would you like to donate the portion less than a dollar … to the Missouri Veterans Commission.” Kelly estimates those donations could amount to between $6 and $8 million dollars a year.

Higdon is preparing a bill that includes that idea and another. It would take the money that is found on casino floors and direct it to the Veterans Commission as well. Currently, that money goes into General Revenue.

Higdon says if that money were dropped on the street, a person can report it to law enforcement after 30 days. In a casino, it goes to the state’s General Revenue fund. “I argue that shouldn’t be part of our general revenue anyway. That’s something that belongs to the casinos … it’s on their property.” Higdon says the casinos he’s talked to are alright with the money going to the veterans’ cause, telling him, “We won’t argue that point.”

Another bill filed by Representative Sheila Solon (R-Blue Springs) would double the annual transfer from the Gaming Commission Fund to the Veterans Commission Capital Improvement Trust Fund from $3 million to $6 million and allow for more to be transferred when the remaining gaming fund amount is more than $28 million.

The Committee is scheduled to next meet Wednesday afternoon.

State spending cap passes House Budget Committee

January 11, 2012 By Mike Lear

The House Budget Committee has advanced a proposed change to the Missouri Constitution to limit future state spending.

: Former House Budget Committee Chairman Allen Icet (left) testifies in favor of HJR 43 alongside its Sponsor, Representative Eric Burlison (R-Springfield).

Representative Eric Burlison (R-Springfield) is sponsoring the measure, HJR 43. It would limit the amount of state general revenue that can be appropriated to the rate of inflation plus population growth.

Under the measure, 1.5 percent of growth over the previous year could be used for appropriations. Any amount between 1.5 and 2.5 percent would be used to pay off state debt. Any amount beyond that would be divided between two emergency funds that would replace the current Budget Reserve Fund, more commonly called the Rainy Day Fund. When those funds are full if there is more growth, it could go toward a state income tax refund.

The proposal is part of the House Republicans’ legislative plan, the “Blueprint for Missouri.”

The Committee voted 20-9 to pass the resolution, with Representative Chris Kelly (D-Columbia) the only Democrat to favor it.

Kelly offered an amendment that made the 2008 budget year the baseline for the resolution, when general revenue was roughly $8 billion dollars. That means the amendment would not kick in until the fund reached that level, which lawmakers agreed is unlikely in the forseeable future.

Burlison says the change would stabilize the budget process and prevent the creation of programs in years of excess only to have them cut when the economy takes a down turn. He says now is the time to enact the resolution, when the economy is down. “We’re experiencing the difficult end of this. We’re looking back and saying if only legislators prior to us had had something like this in place then we wouldn’t have been having to make some of these very difficult cuts that we’re making today. We would have had money in reserves…in savings that we could go to.”

An almost partisan split

Among those opposing the bill, Representative Genise Montecillo (D-St. Louis) says she worries that even in the high mark year of 2008 some funding levels were not sufficient. “Even if I could get all the money in the world for education I have some concerns for social services as well. So, it seems to me that we’re kind of locking some groups into a continued future of being under funded when our needs in our state are becoming greater with unemployment still at really high levels.”

Other Democrats criticized that Republican leadership is trying to limit spending while offering no plans to generate more revenue such as increasing the cigarette tax or collecting internet taxes.

Representative Kelly countered, “As you know, I am a big supporter of raising more revenue around here, but raising revenue is a different question than managing the revenue that we have.”

Representative Burlison noted that the resolution exempts new or increased tax revenues or fees that are voter approved from appropriations growth limit calculations for the year they are passed.

The measure moves on to the Rules Committee, which meets tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. As a constitutional amendment, it would eventually have to go before Missouri voters.