Legislative Column for Jan. 27, 2020
With a mix of snow and ice in the forecast, legislators cleared out of Jefferson City Wednesday afternoon and headed home before the bad weather hit. That, combined with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday, made for a short week at the Capitol. While we were here, we still managed to get some work done in committee hearings.
The Senate Education Committee heard testimony on my Senate Bill 528, which creates a School Transportation Fund to help pay for student transportation costs. Rural schools, in particular, struggle to pay for the cost of busing children to and from school. One school superintendent in my district told me the total miles their buses travel every day is the equivalent of a trip to New York City and back. School districts count on the state to cover 75 percent of a school’s transportation cost. Unfortunately, we haven’t been keeping up our end of the bargain.
A companion version of this legislation, House Bill 2078, has been filed in the House of Representatives by Rep. Karla Eslinger. Neither bill will solve the school transportation budget shortfall completely, but they will help. Every year, the legislature appropriates money for K-12 schools. The actual cost is never truly known until the end of the year. Sometimes, we over-budget and there’s a bit of money left over –between $5 and $20 million most years. Senate Bill 528 would direct any surplus education money to the transportation fund instead of sending it back to general revenue. A number of school districts testified in support of the bill and my sense is the legislation was well-received by the committee.
The Senate Appropriations Committee also met this week. I serve on that committee and it’s always fascinating to hear the requests and recommendations from each of the state agencies as we develop the state budget. This week we heard from the Office of Budget and Planning, as they highlighted some of the governor’s recommendations. This was a follow-up to the governor’s State of the State Address the previous week, when he outlined his budget priorities to a joint session of the General Assembly.
The governor’s budget anticipates state revenue will grow 2.4 percent in 2020 and slightly less the following year. Once again, we’re looking at a total state budget of more than $30 billion. Roughly one-third of Missouri’s budget goes to pay for social services, primarily Medicaid programs. A little more than 20 percent is spent funding elementary and secondary schools. That’s half the state budget just for those two areas of state government. About 10 cents of every state dollar goes to roads, and mental health expenses take up 8 percent. No other single area of government accounts for more than 5 percent of the budget individually.
With so much of the state’s resources devoted to social services and education, there isn’t money for much else. Still, the governor did manage to present some new ideas and request funding for a few programs he believes will improve the lives of Missourians and make the state a better place to live and work. The governor is asking for additional money for college scholarships and has proposed a new program to prepare high school students for trade schools. He has requested money for early childhood education, pay raises for in-home health providers and money for Missourians with developmental disabilities. He’s requesting funds for additional law enforcement resources and a witness relocation program to help address all the unsolved homicides in our cities. He wants to fund rural broadband expansion and repairs to flood-damaged levees. Continuing his emphasis on workforce development, the governor budgets money for job training and programs that help businesses expand and hire more workers. He’s asked for another $50 million for a transportation cost-share program to help local communities pay for road projects.
It’s the job of the Appropriations Committee to sort all this out. We will continue to hear from the various state agencies over the next few weeks and will craft a state budget as the legislative session continues. It’s a big job. There are many demands on state resources, but only a limited amount of money. I promise to keep you informed as the process of creating a balanced budget continues over the coming months.
As always, I appreciate it when groups from around Missouri and from our community back home come to visit me at the Capitol. If you would like to arrange a time to come and visit me in Jefferson City, or if you ever have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact my Capitol office at (573) 751-1882.