Jefferson City — Members of the General Assembly gathered Tuesday evening (1/15) to hear the governor’s fourth State of the State Address, which headlined week two of the 2008 legislative session. The governor set forth his recommendations for the year’s budget including proposals to increase funding for health-care, education and other social programs.
The governor called upon lawmakers to focus on education as a top budget priority for the state of Missouri. He asked that legislators increase funding for elementary and secondary education by $121 million and funding for colleges and universities by $54.2 million. The governor’s proposal provides increased concentration on funding the areas of math, science, engineering and technology, as well as greater funding for health-related disciplines. He also challenged state officials to improve the quality of educational facilities across Missouri and to increase needs-based scholarships availability to $100 million under the Access Missouri program.
Protecting Missouri taxpayers is high on the governor’s list of budget priorities. The governor urged the General Assembly to make the Missouri Accountability Portal, an Internet site created that allows Missourians to track the expenditure of all tax dollars in near real-time, permanent. He also recommended that legislators place measures on the ballot to ensure that Missouri will never have judge-imposed taxes and that people are protected from excessive property-tax increases based on reassessment.
The governor also recommended that legislators fund his new health-care plan, Insure Missouri. Under the plan, more than 54,000 people below the poverty line would gain access to affordable health care.
Another of the governor’s top priorities is illegal immigration. He urged lawmakers to pass several legislative initiatives that would deter illegal immigration in Missouri. Prohibiting driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants and punishing employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants are a few of the measures the governor would like to see passed.
Lawmakers will take the governor’s proposals under advisement when developing and adopting the state’s spending plan.
In other Senate news, several pieces of legislation were assigned to committees this week, and in some cases, heard by the committees. Senate Bill 765, the village law repeal measure introduced by Sen. Jack Goodman (R-Mt. Vernon), was presented before the Economic Development, Tourism & Local Government Committee on Thursday afternoon. The bill would repeal the provisions set forth in the village law passed last year that makes it considerably easier for villages to incorporate.
Senate Joint Resolution 30, introduced by Sen. Maida Coleman (D-St. Louis), was referred to the Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. The bill would require that all sex offenders who committed a crime before sex offender registry laws went into effect still be required to register with the state.
If these bills are passed by their respective committees, they will be put on the Senate calendar for possible debate on the Senate floor later in the session.
To follow these and other issues facing the Missouri Senate, visit www.senate.mo.gov. Visitors can track legislation as it passes through the General Assembly, learn more about their Senate district, or listen to streaming audio of legislative debate as it happens.
The Missouri Senate will reconvene at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 22. The Second Regular Session of the 94th Missouri General Assembly will run through Friday, May 16.
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