Only one week remains in the 2018 legislative session. While there were hours of debate that, at times, seemed to slow progress, I am proud to say that my colleagues and I were able to pass a balanced budget along with several other important pieces of legislation.
House Bill 1879 is the companion bill to legislation I filed in the Senate. This legislation, passed by both the House and Senate, updates and modernizes Missouri’s public fund statutes, and it is intended to improve the financial relationship between banks and local governments.
House Bill 1291 , which includes Senate Bill 956, legislation I sponsored regarding transportation infrastructure funding, was also truly agreed to and finally passed this week. This bill aims to help our counties cooperate on road projects with other political subdivisions within the county. It also provides counties additional authority to issue bonds for street maintenance and repair while repealing a portion of state law requiring road bond construction funds to only be used on continuous roads within the county. It further allows the county to contract with any other political subdivisions in order to share the proceeds of county road bonds used for approved purposes.
Also this week, the General Assembly gave final approval to the state’s $28 billion operating budget for Fiscal Year 2019. Passing a balanced budget is the only task required of lawmakers by the Missouri Constitution. This budget is a representation of the General Assembly’s commitment to our state.
This year, the Legislature approved a record amount of funding for K-12 education, and for the second year in a row we fully funded the education Foundation Formula. By funding the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education at this level, we are achieving the State Adequacy Target. We also increased school transportation funding by $10 million. In the past few years, transportation funding has been cut and/or withheld drastically (from about 70 percent to 17 percent of what is needed). Transportation funding is important for our rural schools, especially here in the 33rd Senatorial District. That’s why I made an increase in funding for school transportation one of my top priorities this year.
I am happy to say that after all of the hard work and long hours spent trying to address cuts to vital programs for our senior citizens, provider rates for in-home health care will also receive an increase in funding as will the daily reimbursement rate for Medicaid patients living in nursing homes. Other provider rate increases include mental health, dental care and primary care providers. These budget increases show our commitment to the elderly and most vulnerable in Missouri. The budget passed includes $72.1 million increase in funding for nursing home reimbursement rates; and $61.5 million increase in funding for the Managed Care for Health Insurer Fee mandated by the Affordable Care Act.
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.