The Fiscal Year 2015 budget has been approved and now is waiting for the governor’s signature.

The joint-chamber conference committee responsible for finalizing Missouri’s budget for Fiscal Year 2015 finished its work mid-week, sending most of the bills that make up the $26.4 billion state budget to both chambers for final passage. 
  
The final version of the budget includes $114.8 million increase for the state’s K-12 school foundation formula, with $3.1 billion in basic state aid for education; $43.3 million for performance-based funding for higher education institutions (5 percent total increase for two- and four-year public institutions), along with $15 million for the Access Missouri Scholarship Program, $7 million for Bright Flight expansion to include a loan forgiveness component, and a $6.7 million increase for the A+ Schools Program.

More than $16.6 million in additional funding goes to strengthening Missouri’s mental health system, as well as $17.8 million in general revenue to restore dental benefits for Medicaid-eligible adults.  In addition, $4 million was allocated to the Utilicare program to help low-income Missourians pay their utility bills.  Another $46 million was earmarked for core grants for Area Agencies on Aging, along with an additional $400,000 increase in funding for home-delivered meals for seniors.

Monies that had been sought to help the state care for the Ozark Scenic National Riverways were removed from the budget. The federal government has not turned the parks back over to the state.

The 2015 fiscal year starts July 1, 2014, and runs through June 30, 2015.

While the budget certainly took a good portion of our time during this session, so has the hotly debated Senate Bill 509, which, when enacted, will impose historic tax breaks for Missourians.

Many constituents are wondering what Senate Bill 509 actually does. It phases in a reduction of individual income taxes by one half percent over a period of five years beginning in 2017. The measure is billed as, and truly is, a people’s tax cut and will make Missouri more competitive with neighboring states because it does phase in an income tax deduction for small businesses.  This bill was written with small business in mind, and was designed for small local businesses in particular as small business makes up more than 90 percent of employers in the state.

There are also provisions within this measure that will help low-income Missourians by increasing the personal income tax exemption amount by $500 for those making less than $20,000 adjusted gross income.