Missouri's House Proposal reverses cuts to colleges with money from the blind.

The top budget leader in the Missouri House announced his plan to restore the proposed cut to public universities by eliminating a state program for the blind.

House Budget chairman Rep. Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City, plans on ending a $28 million program for the blind in order to reverse the 15 percent cut to public universities called for by Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon.

"The governor's assault on higher education ends today," Silvey said.

Nixon released a written statement after Silvey's plan was announced and called the cuts to the program for the blind "just plain wrong."

"We should not, and cannot, remove the funding for this program that allows thousands of Missourians to remain in their own homes," Nixon said in his statement.

Silvey's plan would add a total of $106 million more than Nixon's proposal giving colleges the same amount of money they are getting this year.

Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, said he applauded Silvey's work to restore the cuts to colleges, but did not agree with taking money from the blind.

"I would rather go into the administration of state government for the cuts than the blind," Kelly said.

To restore Nixon's higher education cuts, Silvey took $28 million from the Supplemental Aid to the Blind program which provides care for 2,800 people, who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid. The program averages $10,000 per person in the program. Blindness is the only condition in Missouri to have this special fund, according to Silvey.

"It's about a fundamental question of fairness in the disability community," Silvey said.

Rep. Jeanne Kirkton, D-St. Louis County, said she was "cautious" about taking money from this program.

"These people have been cut so deeply in the past years. We have an obligation to take care of our most vulnerable," Kirkton said.

A top Democrat on the House Budget Committee said the cuts to the blind needed more discussion but the lack of state funds available makes these decisions difficult.

"Clearly there is no money," said Rep. Sara Lampe, D-Springfield.

Silvey also cut a $5 million increase to local school district funding that Nixon had proposed. Silvey said the increase would only have been worth $5 per pupil.

"I ended the governor's election year political stunt," Silvey said.

The new budget plan takes into account a $10 million boost in lottery sales beyond what Nixon projected. It also includes $40 million from a national mortgage settlement, which Nixon had requested be used to soften the blow from his initial higher education cuts.

It also makes changes to the governor's proposal for a pay raise for state employees. Nixon originally had called for the raise to take effect in January instead of July, when the state's fiscal year begins. Silvey's plan pushes the start date for the raise to July, but only for employees earning less than $70,000 a year.

The House Budget Committee will begin mark-up on the state's $23 billion budget next week.

House Budget chair blisters the governor's budget director over disaster funds

The House Budget Committee grilled State Budget Director Linda Luebbering about the $150 million being withheld by the governor for disaster relief. The governor has set aside the money in anticipation of payments to Joplin and other areas affected by natural disasters without knowing exactly how much money is needed.

Committee chairman Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City, charged Gov. Jay Nixon's action was unconstitutional because the state's constitution does not give him power to withhold funds from the budget to use the money for other purposes.

Article 4, Section 27 of the Missouri Constitution empowers the governor to withhold funds if revenue collections are running below the estimate upon which the budget was based. Silvey charges that provision does not empower the governor to cut agency allotments to reserve funds for other purposes the governor wants to finance.

Luebbering said money is needed to cover the expected costs for disaster relief in Joplin and the flooding in southeast Missouri. State obligations could include debris removal or rebuilding schools but as of now there is no breakdown of the specific costs, she said.

"We think setting aside $150 million for all these efforts is a perfectly reasonable amount of money," Luebbering said.

Silvey and other members of the committee questioned why the governor was withholding money from the 2012 fiscal year instead of using the money available in the state's Rainy Day Fund. Created in 2000 as the Budget Reserve Fund, the Rainy Day Fund contains roughly $500 million, half of which can be used for disaster relief payments.

"The Rainy Day Fund is an option," Luebbering said. "I don't know if we will use the Rainy Day Fund."

The constitution requires a two-thirds vote by the General Assembly to use the Rainy Day Fund for emergency relief. In July, Nixon said he would include disaster relief funding as part of the legislature's special session that begins Sept. 6, but in the official call issued Aug. 22, Nixon left out the issue. A special session can take up only the specific issues included in the governor's call.

Silvey questioned why the governor decided to exclude the legislature from discussing the disaster funding in the special session.

Directly facing Nixon's top budget official, Silvey repeatedly voiced frustration about the administration's approach, saying, "The governor does not want to deal with the legislature."

Luebbering said the governor made the decision to restrict expenditures to allow for more flexibility later in the year. She said the governor's office was looking at the broader constitutionality of the issue and previous court cases that established precedence for the decision to withhold funds. She could not name the cases she was referring to.

"The executive branch has the authority to balance the budget," Luebbering said.

Silvey said he did not feel a solution was reached at the meeting but was glad the committee served its purpose in questioning the decision.

"It's clear that the governor does not like dealing with the legislature," said Silvey. "It's clear that he'd rather have flexibility than go along with the constitution."

Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, told the committee the issues with the governor's budget is due to the legislature's own action in crafting a budget that left the door open for the governor to use funds for disaster relief without clear legislative authorization. He called on the Budget Committee to close the administrative flexibility in executive spending.

"It is easy to drive a truck through that little flexibility hole without seeing the damage," Kelly said.

Silvey said these issues will likely affect bills in the next legislative session.

"Our problem isn't where's the money's going but the process that it's getting there," Silvey said. "We want to see the money going where we appropriated it."

Earlier this month, State Auditor Tom Schweich sent the governor a letter questioning the constitutionality of the governor's budget withholding actions. Schweich charged that Luebbering's budget official failed to provide any information substantiating that revenue collections were falling below the original estimates upon which the budget was based.

Missouri House Gives Approval to Powerful Economic Development Package Sponsored by Rep. John J. Diehl, Jr.

The Missouri House has approved a wide-ranging economic development package focused on creating and retaining jobs in the fields of science and technology. Sponsored by state Rep. John J. Diehl, Jr., R-Town and Country, the legislation (HB 468) received overwhelming bipartisan support; passing by a vote of 144-7. Diehl said the legislation would give Missouri a powerful tool to move the state toward becoming a national leader in the science, technology and research industries.

“This legislation will help us identify some of the key components of our economy that we can help grow for the future,” said Diehl. “We know entrepreneurial growth is a vital part of any long-term economic success we hope to achieve for the state. This legislation will allow us to support entrepreneurial activity and allow Missouri to catch up with the many states that have already embraced entrepreneurship and innovation as economic growth strategies.”

One portion of the bill would create the Missouri Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act. MOSIRA, which received approval in the House for the first time in the state’s history, would create a funding source to spark growth in research and technology enterprises by capturing a small percentage of the new growth in gross wages generated by employees working in Missouri within designated science and innovation fields. The funds would then be reinvested strategically by the Missouri Technology Corporation into projects that are innovation-based and have the greatest potential return to the citizens of Missouri. Diehl stressed that funding for MOSIRA would not be generated from additional taxes or involve the use of existing general revenue funds.

Diehl said funding would be reinvested in a wide range of programs designed to: attract top science talent to Missouri; commercialize scientific research to create new Missouri-based technology companies; recruit and build strategic science infrastructure; create a continuum of capital programs to increase access to risk capital for early-stage technology companies created in or recruited to Missouri; increase technology-focused entrepreneurial activity in Missouri; and establish highly-focused workplace development initiatives.

“Our science and innovation industries represent an enormous untapped potential that our state needs to capitalize on if we are going to prepare our economy for success in the future,” said Diehl. “MOSIRA gives us a predictable, stable source of funding that will help us build our entrepreneurial infrastructure. Best of all it does it without cost to Missouri taxpayers.”

Diehl’s bill has received strong bipartisan support and has been backed by businesses, academic institutions, workforce development and community groups from across the state.

The legislation also includes incentives for the building of data storage facilities and computer server farm facilities. The bill would authorize a state and local sales and use tax exemption on items related to these facilities. The data storage legislation was also filed as House Bill 366 by House Budget Chairman Ryan Silvey, R-Kansas City.

In addition, the legislative package would modify the Enhanced Enterprise Zone Program to allow for tax credits to be issued to developers who establish a new business facility in a dormant manufacturing plant zone. The plan is meant to help make use of the closed Chrysler Plant near Fenton and has also been proposed as House Bill 357 by Representative Mike Leara, R-St. Louis County.

“This is a big picture piece of legislation that gives our state some effective tools to move our economy in a positive direction,” said Diehl. “We have an abundance of untapped potential that we must make use of if we are going to make Missouri a national leader in the emerging science and technology industries. This puts us in the game and allows us to compete with the many states that have already made that investment.”