The interim, or the time between legislative sessions, is busy for lawmakers. Even though my colleagues and I might not spend as much time in the Capitol from mid-May through December, that doesn’t mean we have fewer obligations. This year, I had the honor of chairing the Senate Interim Committee on Capital Improvement Assessments and Planning, working with my fellow lawmakers to evaluate our state buildings and improvements.

The Senate President Pro Tem can establish interim committees on important issues. This year, our committee was charged with reviewing various sites across the state, including mental health facilities, parks, state buildings and higher education facilities. We were also charged with looking at legislation that has been previously filed relating to those topics, and analyzing the cost effectiveness of the proposed projects and various funding mechanisms for those projects. We were also tasked with looking at ways to leverage private giving.

We toured facilities and gathered public testimony at each site. In July in Jefferson City, we looking at the Lewis and Clark state office building and the site of the original Missouri State Penitentiary. In August, we had the opportunity to visit the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus, specifically the Benton Stadler building, as well as the Missouri School for the Blind. September, the committee toured the Fulton State Hospital, and in October, we visited the University of Missouri-Kansas City Pharmacy and Dental building and the Northwest Regional Youth Center.

What we found was that of all the sites, the Fulton State Hospital was in the most need of a major upgrade. As the facility serves the state as our only maximum security psychiatric hospital, and has the capacity to securely house up to 363 clients in a therapeutic setting, the clients currently residing in the facility should be housed in a more appropriate setting than deteriorating buildings. Our hardworking mental health staff deserves a better and safer working environment. It was the committee’s recommendation that this site receive first priority for improvement.

We recommended that the first step should be to prioritize each year’s full funding amount in the Facilities Maintenance Reserve Fund (FMRF), which is not funded through the state budget, but rather receives a flat one percent of the state’s general revenue collections. In the past, the FMRF has not been fully funded and the governor has withheld money from its budget. That money could then be utilized as a funding source for capital improvements.

In order to fund maintenance on higher education facilities, we need to begin utilizing the Higher Education Capital Fund out of general revenue. Deposits made by the state could then be matched by the school requiring the maintenance. At this time, no funds have been put into the Higher Education Capital Fund since it was created in 2011. We then recommended that the General Assembly look at necessary improvements and look for funding to implement the repairs as needed. Of course, that’s easy to say, and certainly more difficult to do, considering these last few years of tough funding decisions.

The committee recommended that the legislature put thought into issuing bonds in order to fund the repairs and construction needed across the Show-Me State. As we found in our research, interest rates are still comparatively low and the market is profitable for purchasing bonds and borrowing funds. It was determined a bonding proposal should not exceed a $500 million to $1 billion range.

What will come next will depend on 2014-2015 budget discussions. The Senate Appropriations Committee will, I believe, give thoughtful discussion to the state’s most necessary funding and needed repairs across Missouri. I look forward to the upcoming conversations about the buildings we toured and conditions in which some citizen’s work, or even live.