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Nixon Threatens Layoffs Over 8-Month Budget For Missouri's Motor Vehicles Division

Marshall Griffin/St. Louis Public Radio

Governor Jay Nixon (D) is threatening to lay off state workers unless Republican lawmakers fully fund the Missouri Department of Revenue's Motor Vehicles Division for a full fiscal year.

The warning comes one day after House and Senate budget negotiators agreed to only fund the state division for eight months, as a means of pressuring state Revenue officials to stop scanning and storing source documents of driver's license applicants.  Nixon says he'll treat the 8-month appropriation as a full year's funding if GOP leaders don’t reverse themselves.

"They leave me no choice," Nixon told reporters Wednesday.  "I will reduce staff and services accordingly, including making the necessary layoffs, effective July one."

Kurt Schaefer (R, Columbia) chairs the Missouri Senate's Appropriations Committee.  He calls the Governor's decision irresponsible, and says the practice of scanning personal documents of driver's license applicants is illegal.

"There's absolutely no reason for him to lay off anyone, in that they have a full budget for eight months, until we come back (next year), and provided they comply with the law, which they're currently violating still today, we'll give them the rest of the year’s budget," Schaefer said.  "But if the Governor wants to use it as an opportunity to cut state employees, he's the Governor and he can do that."

It’s too late to amend any of the budget bills.  However, if the Nixon administration agrees to stop scanning applicants' personal documents before the budget is voted out, lawmakers could choose to allow the DMV's budget bills to return to conference where they could be fully funded.  So far there are no indications that either side will budge.

Follow Marshall Griffin on Twitter:  @MarshallGReport

Copyright 2021 St. Louis Public Radio. To see more, visit St. Louis Public Radio.

Missouri Public Radio State House Reporter Marshall Griffin is a proud alumnus of the University of Mississippi (a.k.a., Ole Miss), and has been in radio for over 20 years, starting out as a deejay. His big break in news came when the first President Bush ordered the invasion of Panama in 1989. Marshall was working the graveyard shift at a rock station, and began ripping news bulletins off the old AP teletype and reading updates between songs. From there on, his radio career turned toward news reporting and anchoring. In 1999, he became the capital bureau chief for Florida's Radio Networks, and in 2003 he became News Director at WFSU-FM/Florida Public Radio. During his time in Tallahassee he covered seven legislative sessions, Governor Jeb Bush's administration, four hurricanes, the Terri Schiavo saga, and the 2000 presidential recount. Before coming to Missouri, he enjoyed a brief stint in the Blue Ridge Mountains, reporting and anchoring for WWNC-AM in Asheville, North Carolina. Marshall lives in Jefferson City with his wife, Julie, their dogs, Max and Mason, and their cat, Honey.