Senate Delivers FY 2014 Budget to Governor Ahead of Constitutional Deadline

JEFFERSON CITY – The Missouri Senate sent to the governor a state spending plan for Fiscal Year 2014 that includes increased funding for Missouri’s K-12 schools, the state’s public higher education institutions, and an annual salary boost for all state employees starting January 2014 — all one day before the General Assembly’s constitutional deadline to pass the budget.  Approximately $24.7 billion will fund the state’s critical departments and programs with passage of House Bills 1-13, which make up Missouri’s operating budget running from July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2014. 

Elementary & Secondary Education

The $5.5 billion allocated in House Bill 2 includes a $65.8 million increase in funding for the state’s school foundation formula, totaling more than $3 billion for Missouri’s public schools; $20.2 million for the First Steps Program, an early intervention system that provides services to families with children from birth to age 3 who have disabilities or developmental delays; $3.4 million in increased funding for the Missouri Preschool Program, which supports programs that prepare children prior to the age in which they are eligible to enroll in kindergarten to enter school read to learn; and $2.5 million for the state’s Vocational Rehabilitation Program, which specializes in employment and training services that help Missourians find employment. 

Higher Education

House Bill 3, which totals $1.2 billion, includes a more than $25 million increase for the state’s public universities and colleges, distributed based on the performance funding model developed by Missouri’s Higher Education Funding Taskforce.  The higher education funding bill also contains increased funding for the state’s scholarships and financial assistance programs, including a $2.4 million increase to the Bright Flight Scholarship Program, and a $1 million increase for both the Access Missouri Scholarship Program and the A+ Schools Program, which will fully fund all high schools in the state with A+ certification. 

Revenue & Transportation

The Department of Revenue ($472 million) and the Department of Transportation ($2.1 billion), which receive their funding through House Bill 4, includes $17.2 million for the implementation of an integrated tax collection system.  DOR also received eight months of funding for several of its divisions, which will receive the rest of departmental funding through supplemental funding later in the fiscal year.   MoDOT received $3 million to improve nine port facilities across the Show-Me State and a $1 million increase in funding for Amtrak.

Agriculture, Natural Resources & Conservation

Funding through House Bill 6 for the Department of Agriculture ($38.2 million) includes $5.5 million for biodiesel incentive payments.  There is also $2.4 million in additional funding for the Department of Natural Resources ($370.7 million) for fuel, utilities and equipment replacement for state parks, as well as the construction of the new Don Robinson State Park, located near the St. Louis metropolitan area in Jefferson County.  The Department of Conservation was also allocated $147.3 million through House Bill 6. 

Economic Development, Labor & Insurance

The Department of Economic Development, through House Bill 7, includes $5 million in increased funding for the Missouri Technology Corporation, a public-private partnership created by the Legislature to promote entrepreneurship and foster the growth of new and emerging high-tech companies; $4.2 million for the Missouri Arts Council Trust Fund, which allocates money for programs that support and maintain activities that demonstrate, exhibit or celebrate the contributions of African Americans and other minorities; an increase of $4.1 million for the Tax Increment Finance Program, a financing and development tool that encourages development of blighted, substandard and economically underutilized areas; $4 million for the Missouri Quality Jobs Program, which facilitates the creation of quality jobs by targeted business projects; and $450,000 for the National World War I Museum and Memorial ($200,000) and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum ($250,000), both located in Kansas City.

House Bill 7 also includes funding for the Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions & Professional Registration ($40 million) and the Department of Labor & Industrial Relations ($156 million), which includes more than $11.3 million to modernize the unemployment insurance computer system.

Public Safety

House Bill 8 provides funding for the Department of Public Safety ($669.8 million), which received $85.6 million in additional federal funds for disaster funding, $73.3 million for the state’s veterans’ homes and cemeteries; $3.9 million for electronic medical records for veterans, and various funding for crime prevention programs, including $1.5 million for the cyber crimes task forces, $2 million for drug task forces, and $812,000 to help staff the Rural Crimes Unit. 

Mental Health, Health & Senior Services

The $1.6 billion allocated for the Department of Mental Health, under House Bill 10, includes $43.8 million in increased funding  for programs and services found within the department; $14.7 million in additional federal funds to strengthen Missouri’s mental health system, $10.8 million  in additional funding to eliminate the waiting list for those with developmental disabilities in the state, and $1 million additional funding for the five Regional Autism Projects that collectively provide services to approximately 3,500 families statewide.

House Bill 10 also funds the Department of Health & Senior Services ($1.1 billion).  This includes $13.3 million in additional federal funding for the Balancing Incentive Program, which helps states transform their long-term care systems and provides new ways to serve more people in home- and community-based settings; $12.6 million for Medicaid home- and community-based services; $7.9 million in additional funding for local public health agencies; $6.6 million in additional federal funds for nutrition services, such as the Child and Adult Care Food Program; and an additional $5.2 million in general revenue funding for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program due to the program’s increased participation and higher medication costs. 

Social Services

House Bill 11 includes $8.5 billion for the Department of Social Services, including $68.9 million in additional funding for a new eligibility and enrollment system; an additional $66.2 million in funding to maintain the state’s current Medicaid program; $5.9 million in additional funding for the Children’s Division child welfare programs; and an additional $3.5 million in additional funding to increase the number of children who receive services through the Missouri Early Head Start Child Care Partnership Program Project, which increases the capacity of and access to quality care for infants and toddlers while providing parents with an increase in quality child care settings.

All Other Agencies

• Office of Administration - $284 million (House Bill 5)
• Employee Benefits - $885.8 million (House Bill 6)
• Corrections - $677.4 million (House Bill 9)
• Elected Officials - $120.1 million (House Bill 12)
• Judiciary - $198 million (House Bill 12)
• Public Defender Commission - $38.4 million (House Bill 12)
• General Assembly - $33.3 million (House Bill 12)
• Real Estate - $151.6 million (House Bill 13)

Missouri’s operating budget for FY 2014 was delivered to the governor on May 9.  The governor can only line-item veto budget bills — nullifying or cancelling specific provisions of a bill without vetoing the entire legislative package.  The General Assembly’s constitutional deadline for completing the state’s operating budget was Friday, May 10.

To read more about these budget bills, as well as other legislation still moving through the General Assembly, visit www.senate.mo.gov.