JEFFERSON CITY • The Missouri Legislature boosted funding for education and rejected adding low-income adults to the Medicaid rolls in a $26.4 billion budget sent to Gov. Jay Nixon’s desk Thursday.
In both chambers, the budget debate lacked the drama that usually characterized the process. The spending plan, which takes effect July 1, includes funding increases for public K-12 schools and higher education institutions and sets out a plan to restore the aging Fulton State Hospital.
House members were most vocal when bills that might have held Medicaid expansion came to the floor. Nixon, a Democrat, recommended expanding Medicaid in his fiscal year 2015 budget, but the Republican-led Legislature has repeatedly rejected adding about 300,000 low-income adults to Medicaid.
One Republican’s call for a Medicaid overhaul on Thursday garnered applause from House Democrats, while fellow Republicans remained silent.
Rep. Noel Torpey, R-Independence, sponsored a bill that would provide an alternative benefits package — either through Medicaid or the federally run insurance exchange — to adults making up to 138 percent of the poverty level. It would require some recipients to have jobs and pay 1 percent of their income in premiums.
“Whether you think the Affordable Care Act is the greatest thing since sliced bread or you think it’s a train wreck, it’s the law of the land,” Torpey said. “We in Missouri have a chance to make a bad law a little bit better.”
Although Medicaid expansion was not included in the budget, some of Nixon’s education funding proposals were. The budget includes $115 million more for the foundation formula, which funds K-12 public schools. That number could jump to $278 million — Nixon’s recommendation — if revenue grows at the rate Nixon anticipates. An increase of about $556 million is needed to fully fund the formula.
The state currently pays almost $3.1 billion into the formula annually.
Nixon estimates that state revenue will grow 5.2 percent for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The Legislature, however, anticipates a lower percentage: 4.2 percent.
In response to the difference, Rep. Rick Stream, R-Kirkwood, created a surplus revenue fund, where money would be funneled should revenue increase more than the Legislature anticipates.
However, the Legislature’s more conservative estimate appears to be underscored by the anemic revenue growth Missouri is experiencing as the current fiscal year comes to a close.
The Legislature expected 2 percent revenue growth by the end of fiscal year 2014. But for the first 10 months of this fiscal year, revenue is up only 0.5 percent from a year ago.
Troubling revenue growth this fiscal year played a role in the funding plan Missouri legislators chose for the new, maximum-security facility at Fulton State Hospital.
Though several funding avenues were circulating in the Missouri Capitol this session, Nixon’s plan for the 300-bed facility, which would require 25 years of bond repayment, was chosen. This plan requires about $14 million in next year’s budget.
Stream also had a plan for the Fulton project, which would require only five years of bond repayment. His plan required about $44 million in next year’s budget, however.
“We’re being very cautious watching revenues right now. They’re certainly not where the governor predicted,” Senate Appropriations Chairman Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, said Tuesday. “The primary goal here is to get Fulton built.”
For six years, Rep. Jeanie Riddle, R-Mokane — whose district includes Fulton — has tried to get the facility built. She expressed her gratitude on the House floor Thursday.
“I was told when I entered this building (the facility) would never happen,” Riddle said. “But I’ve seen today that it will.”
Nixon said he was pleased about the funding plan for the Fulton facility, among other items included in the Legislature’s budget. However, he felt more money should have been allocated to K-12 public schools.
“While making progress in many areas, in other respects the Legislature missed the mark by failing to make K-12 education the priority and refusing to strengthen Medicaid,” Nixon said in a release. “Quality public schools are vital to the strength of our communities and the health of our economy, but many in this Legislature simply don’t agree.”
The budget includes an average of a 5 percent increase for two-year and four-year public universities based on performance funding, which would cost about $43 million. Nixon recommended an average of a 4 percent increase for two-year institutions and an average of 5 percent increase for four-year institutions.
Other provisions in the budget include:
• $15 million increase for K-12 transportation.
• $3.5 million for new reading instruction programs in unaccredited and provisionally accredited districts.
• $4 million increase for the Missouri Preschool Program in provisionally accredited and unaccredited school districts.
• $15 million increase for the needs-based scholarship, Access Missouri.
• $48.2 million to add general dental coverage for Medicaid-eligible adults.
• $17.7 million to add occupational, speech and physical therapy benefits for Medicaid eligible adults.
• $23.6 million to eliminate the Medicaid in-home wait list for developmentally disabled individuals in every county participating in the Partnership for Hope.
• $8.5 million increase for tourism.
• $1 million for a pilot alternative school in both St. Louis and Columbia for improving academic achievement of at-risk students.
• $5 million for Kansas City to host the 2016 Republican National Convention. The city is a finalist.
The $6 million to fund a state take over of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, should the National Park Service relinquish control, was removed from the surplus revenue fund. However, a spot was left in the budget in case control handed over to the state.
Also Thursday, the Legislature sent a $220 million capital improvements bill to the governor’s desk. This bill includes $11 million for light rail and $8 million for a business incubator at the Cortex Innovation Community in St. Louis. Both projects would be financed by bonds.
The budget bills are HB2001-2013. The capital improvements bill is HB2021.
