In opening-day addresses on Wednesday [Jan. 4], the top leaders of Missouri's House and Senate cited similar issues as top priorities for lawmakers to resolve -- education funding, the budget and pro-business legislation.
The legislature's regular session begins just a few months after lawmakers failed in the summer special session to pass the governor's package of business tax breaks for economic development.
Senate President Pro Tem Rob Mayer said that failure has created an incentive for the regular session. "A lot of legislators, including myself, were disappointed that we didn't get done what we wanted to during special session and that gives us the incentive to get some things done in this new session," Mayer said.
Both Mayer and House Speaker Steve Tilley stressed bi-partisan cooperation in their opening-day remarks.
"In seven years, I've done my best to foster bi-partisanship," Tilley told his colleagues. "When I go back to private life, my fondest memories will not be the bills I help pass or even the fights we won on the floor. Instead, it will be the moments of friendship I shared with both Republicans and Democrats, both House members and Senate members."
On the Senate side, Republican Mayer had the Senate's Democratic leader, Victor Callahan, join Republican leaders in the pre-session news conference.
Both Mayer and Tilley are serving their final year in their chambers -- blocked by term limits from seeking re-election.
The one note of partisan disagreement came on the Republican leaders' push for swift passage of a pro-business agenda.
"You're not going to bring back prosperity by lowering the middle class's wages and taking away their rights," Callahan said.
Among the biggest challenges facing lawmakers will be to balance the budget with what budget officials estimate will be a $500 million or larger shortfall in revenue.
For the last few years, the state has been balancing its budget with federal economic recovery money that has been used up. In addition, the federal government is lowering the share of funding it picks up for Medicaid that covers health care costs for the lower income. The federal government also has restricted states from making cuts in the program.
Legislative budget leaders have warned that higher education likely will suffer the brunt of the resulting budget cuts. In December, Gov. Jay Nixon's administration floated the idea of borrowing money from the state's larger universities to help cover the budget shortfall. The idea quickly was rejected by legislative budget leaders and ultimately was dropped by Nixon.
Nixon is scheduled to present his budget plan to lawmakers on Jan. 17. The legislative session adjourns in mid-May.
Republican legislative leaders vowed that tax increases were off the table for dealing with the budget shortfall.
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