In the Missouri House, we are continuing to work long days. On the other side of the Capitol, the Missouri Senate has again become bogged down by a handful of senators using the filibuster. Although at times the filibuster can be a good thing in helping stop bad legislation, it can be very bad if taken to an extreme by shutting down everything. Even if we get nothing else done this year, we do in Missouri have constitutional duties that must by law get done.
To keep it short, I’ll focus this report on one of our most important constitutional duties and that is to pass each year a balanced budget. As part of the Budget Committee, we have been spending many hours working on both the 2023 budget which starts July 1 and on two supplemental budgets. A supplemental budget is used to budget for unexpected or emergency costs of government through the end of the fiscal year (June 30) and is usually not that big.
But this year we have a second supplemental budget to appropriate over 4 billion dollars in federal COVID relief money. I strongly oppose federal deficit spending as the piper must always be paid. But if we do not spend or appropriate these relief dollars, the money goes back to the feds and is sent elsewhere. It’s a sad situation, but reluctantly most would rather see the money stay and be spent in Missouri.
The House passed this billions of dollars supplemental budget this past week and sent it to the Senate. If the Senate doesn’t act by the end of March, this money will likely go back and be sent to other states.
Of this huge amount of federal money, $2.8 billion dollars must go (as the federal government requires) to K-12 which are our elementary, middle, and high schools. 90% of that $2.8 billion must be passed directly through to local schools. I do not yet have the information as to exactly what our local schools will be receiving, but each school should have that information soon. 10% of that COVID money must be distributed by the state based on special and individual school needs (largely by grants).
Also in this supplemental budget, over 91 million is budgeted for the governor’s pay plan for state employees to be paid between now and the end of the fiscal year (June 30). We will be digging deeper into fair and competitive pay for state employees as we continue working on the 2023 budget. Over the last 25 years, state employee wages have fallen behind the private market, and alarmingly, essential service workers (like law enforcement officers, prison guards, child caseworkers, court clerks, state health care workers, and many others) are leaving these important jobs for better pay. It’s increasingly hard to keep good people working in difficult but low paying state jobs.
It is my honor to represent your common sense values. If you would like to schedule a specific time to meet locally or at the Capitol, please call my office at 573-751-1455, or email my office at david.evans@house.mo.gov. Please watch the House website for updates on bills and resolutions, and remember, you can offer your testimony and your opinion on-line through that same site.
