Republicans control all statewide office – save the state auditor – and enjoy great majorities in the Missouri House of Representatives and the Missouri Senate. Plus, this is an election year and many incumbents want their names on major legislation which can grace campaign literature.
Even better, the state has a helluva lot of money in the bank, including federal funds sent by the Trump and Biden administrations plus an extra-large dose of General Revenue generated within Missouri.
Add it all together and Jefferson City ought to be happily funding a great many new but necessary (and not so necessary) programs, and increasing money to education, roads and other basic services. The phrase ‘get while the getting is good’ comes to mind.
Alas, His Accidency faces great challenges. The state budget submitted by the governor has largely been thwarted in the House by one man – Rep. Cody Smith, Republican from Carthage.
Smith chairs the House budget committee. He takes his job seriously, enforcing his will on the committee and thence on the state’s budget.
To cite a few examples…
Smith supports the proposal to make Medicaid expenditures annually appropriated, giving his committee control of how many people get access to care and what help they can get.
The committee shot down the governor’s proposal to raise starting teacher pay from $25,000 to $38,000 a year, as well as nixing other attempts to increase funding to local schools.
Smith continues to enforce the tradition that to increase spending on one item funding to another item must be slashed by an equal amount (despite over a billion dollars in extra available revenue this year).
During last Thursday’s marathon committee meeting, most budget amendments were voice votes: the chair alone decides if the measure passes. Several times on the video/audio feed it appeared the chair’s ear differed from reality.
Of course, Democrat amendments almost never passed. Smith tried to calm Rep. Peter Merideth (D – St. Louis) by suggesting a topic could be talked about after the hearing. The Democrat noted that in the past the promised consideration never happened.
In other words, the Democrats get even less consideration that the governor under Smith’s gavel.
Smith did take one loss this year. He slashed the governor’s proposal for a $15.00 minimum wage for state workers – just to see the Senate restore that wage and include it in the passed and signed supplemental appropriations bill.
Now, most years the House brings the budget to the floor, argues about it then votes to send it to the Senate before March’s spring break. That gives the smaller chamber about a month to hold their own hearings and pass their revised budget in time for the inevitable conference by members of both chambers, and, final passage by the hard deadline of the first Friday in May.
This year the budget won’t reach the floor of the House till this week. It is unlikely that the Senate will have anything to review before the last week of April. That sets up the very real possibility (especially in light of the daily dysfunction in the Senate) that the budget remains unfinished on Friday, May 6, 2022.
What happens then? The governor has no choice but to call a special (or extraordinary) session to pass the budget before the state’s Fiscal Year begins on July 1, 2022, once again giving the Villain of Carthage more opportunities to force his will on Missouri.
Glenn Koenen