As I shared with you in a previous Capitol Report, I had the honor of chairing the Senate Interim Committee on Capital Improvement Assessment and Planning. My colleagues and I finished up months of research prior to filing our report on Dec. 1. We sent our findings of what we found to be valid plans to address various capital improvements necessary to state buildings and holdings around the Missouri. The committee found the greatest need across the state was about 20 miles from Jefferson City, at the Fulton State Hospital.

The Fulton State Hospital opened in 1851 and is currently the oldest mental health facility west of the Mississippi. The facility still serves the state as our only maximum security psychiatric hospital, with the capacity to securely house up to 363 clients in four distinct areas: the Biggs Forensic Center is the maximum security facility, the Guhleman Forensic Center is the intermediate security section, the Hearnes Forensic Center is for developmentally disabled people, and the Sexual Offender Rehabilitation and Treatment Service Program. All of these programs are housed in buildings, some of which are more than 150 years old.

While the current budget had originally appropriated $13 million for planning a new Fulton State Hospital, $11 million had been withheld from that money. However, this past week, the governor came forward and announced that those funds would be released for initial planning and designing. He also gave his support for long-range plans to build a new facility which could potentially add up to 2,500 permanent jobs in the state and provide much-needed improvements to the Fulton State Hospital.

I look forward to future plans for this institution and to working with the governor and his staff on this priority and much-needed project. The opportunity to chair this committee has allowed me to see the various conditions of state buildings all across the Show-Me State. We have all heard stories of pressing needs at many state facilities. These needs are important as they address the safety of Missouri’s citizens. I hope that the findings and suggestions of the committee help facilitate improvements at many of the institutions and buildings we toured this summer and fall.