JEFFERSON CITY — State Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, who serves as vice-chair of the Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee, is thanking the governor for his swift action regarding the bills that comprise Missouri’s operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year. On Monday, June 10, the governor signed the appropriation bills that make up the state’s $29.7 billion operating budget during a ceremony at the Jefferson City Correctional Center. In signing the bills, the governor issued zero line-item vetoes and announced no funding withholds regarding items in the budget.
“I want to thank the governor for sharing the same funding priorities that I hear from constituents,” Sen. Hough said. “On the top of this list is education, not only fully funding K thru 12, but also higher education. There’s nothing more important than giving the next generation of Missourians the tools they need to succeed against their counterparts in other states, and that is what this budget strives to do.”
House Bills 1 through 19 make up the state’s operating budget for Fiscal Year 2020. A record $1.3 billion will go toward Missouri’s higher education efforts during the upcoming fiscal year, a 12.8 percent increase over the current fiscal year. Missouri State University (MSU) will receive an additional $10 million in Fiscal Year 2020, which will start on July 1, 2019. As a part of the MOExcels Workforce Initiative, MSU and Ozarks Technical Community College’s Ozark Region Nursing Collaboration will receive an additional $3.1 million in Fiscal Year 2020. These additional resources will go toward addressing the nursing shortage hospitals are experiencing all over the Show-Me State, especially in the rural areas.
Fiscal Year 2020 begins on July 1, 2019.