A supplemental spending bill pushing total state appropriations for the fiscal year to almost $55 billion was the first legislation sent to Gov. Mike Kehoe in this year’s session when the Missouri House voted 137-13 for final passage.
The $3.1 billion spending package was pushed quickly through the General Assembly to speed distribution of $59.5 million of federal security funding for the FIFA World Cup matches this summer in Kansas City.
Lawmakers can cut items requested by the governor in a supplemental spending bill but they cannot add new items. Kehoe received most of the money he requested, but a few items were cut because of objections from lawmakers or political disputes of the Capitol.
The state Senate cut just under $15 million set aside to hire an “owners representative” for a proposed expansion of the state Capitol Building and $150,000 to send a Missouri delegation to Washington D.C. this summer for the Great American State Fair that is part of the 250th anniversary of American independence.
The Senate also cut $972,000 to build out and furnish space for the attorney general’s office at a new state building in Chesterfield.
The funding for the Capitol construction project will come back in the budget for the coming fiscal year, said state Rep. Dirk Deaton, a Republican from Seneca who is chairman of the House Budget Committee.
The money comes from a fund holding $595 million for the project, money that could be transferred back to the general revenue fund to alleviate the state’s cash crunch.
“My understanding is they will have some difficult conversations about what that looks like,” Deaton said of the plans for capitol construction.
Some of the biggest individual items in the spending bill are:
- $1 billion for disaster recovery efforts in St. Louis and other locations for tornadoes and storms in 2025
- $635 million for the Department of Transportation road program
- $100 million of the $216 million Missouri received for the Rural Health Transformation Program
Much of the bill is routine, seen every year, to make sure the state has enough money to keep major programs like Medicaid running for the remainder of the fiscal year, Deaton said.
“It is,” he said, “a very conventional supplemental.”
