Lawmakers pass $24B budget

Last edited 12:15 p.m., March 11, 2012

Lawmakers yesterday passed 13 budget bills totaling $24 billion for fiscal 2013 to Gov. Jay Nixon's desk.

"While I still need to review every line of the budget passed (May 10), I appreciate the efforts of the General Assembly to get a budget to me within the constitutional deadline," Gov. Jay Nixon said in a news release. "As I give this budget a very thorough review during the next several weeks, Missourians should know that we’ll continue to live within our means and hold the line on taxes, while doing everything possible to help businesses grow and create jobs.”

The budget eclipses the $22.98 billion budget Nixon recommended during the State of the State address in January.

According to the release, the General Assembly's budget would keep higher education funding roughly flat and increase K-12 funding by $5 million.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, who handled the budget bills in the Senate, said education took the first priority.

“As we began the process, we made a commitment to fund our schools so that every child has an equal opportunity to a world-class education,” Schaefer said in a separate release. “This year, we met that commitment by adding money to K-12 funding while maintaining level funding for higher education.”

The proposed educational funds do not come with tax increases, the release said.

Slow revenue growth, combined with an increase in costs for Medicaid and one-time federal stabilization funds, led to $200 million in reductions and cost avoidance placed in the budget, but according to the release, the General Assembly's version of the budget proposes $50 million less in spending than Nixon's January proposed budget.

The budget also includes a 2 percent increase in pay for state employees making up to $70,000, which would give roughly 55,000 state workers a rise in the next fiscal year.

Legislators submitted the budget to the governor a day before the constitutional deadline.[[In-content Ad]]