Missouri House passes state budget

The House’s $21 billion budget for fiscal year 2007 includes a $150 million surplus.

Also included is a $167 million increase over last year’s budget in funding for elementary and secondary schools.

In the budget, the state’s Medicaid program would receive $263 million in new general revenue. The budget allocates a total of $1.4 billion for Medicaid spending for the year.

The budget’s Medicaid funding includes $7.6 million for the Ticket-to-Work program, which would allow citizens with disabilities to work in sheltered workshops and retain Medicaid coverage. The funding also would provide $600,000 for full eyeglass coverage for Medicaid-eligible adults, $2.2 million to provide wheelchair batteries and accessories, $1.6 million to fund home-delivered meals and $3.5 million in additional funding for food stamps benefits for eligible senior citizens.

The budget also calls for a 2 percent increase in the state’s higher education budget and a 4 percent across-the-board pay raise for state employees.

While some House Democrats say the budget does not provide enough for the state’s students and low-income individuals, House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Allen Icet calls the budget fiscally responsible.

“We are doing what we said we would,” Icet said in a news release. “We had about $550 million new dollars available in general revenue of (available) money; we have put more than $400 million into elementary and secondary education and Medicaid. We are taking care of our students and the most vulnerable in our society, and we’re doing it in a fiscally prudent manner.”

This is the first time since 2003 that the state budget was passed in the House before the mid-term recess.