A supplemental budget law, signed by Gov. Mike Parson Friday, distributes additional funds in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The law received nearly unanimous approval from the Missouri House of Representatives Wednesday and addresses the use of $6.27 billion.
About $5.5 billion of that is federal funds, less than half of which have been promised to the state so far. Lawmakers expect it to start arriving later this month. They planned for billions extra in hopes of receiving more federal money.
Under the approved allocation is for the rest of the fiscal year that ends in June. Departments listed in the law include the transportation, health and senior services, social security, elementary and secondary education, public safety, economic development and mental health.
If all of the hoped-for federal money arrives, the relief package will include:
$1.5 billion for state agencies to use for immediate COVID-19 aid and relief efforts.
$1 billion for local governments to use for pandemic response efforts.
$300 million for public schools.
$138.7 million for the UM System.
$20 million in financial assistance for child care providers.
The finalized budget increased dramatically from a proposition put forward only three weeks before. In the last House session, lawmakers debated a $413 million proposal.
The spending package passed the House and Senate with strong bipartisan support. In the House, it passed 147-4.
“I was encouraged by the broad support,” Rep. Jeff Shawan, R-153, said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of debate on the bill.”
Shawan said this helped with approving the bill while practicing social distancing. Representatives also placed their votes while keeping in mind potential spread.
Shawan said representatives were called down from their offices to place their vote and during his walk the only thing he needed to touch was his button to vote.
“They had all the doors open,” he said. “I was able to leave my office, walk down the steps — I didn’t touch the banisters — walk through the house lounge and into the chamber, walk down to my desk, push the green button, just walk out the door by the dais and never touch a thing in there.”
Increased executive discretion
Some lawmakers expressed concern that the supplemental bill gives too much discretion to Gov. Mike Parson in terms of how to spend funds over the next three months before the end of the fiscal year. Parson announced Friday he was establishing a working group led by state Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick to help decide how the money will be spent.
Sen. Bill Eigel, R-St. Charles, was one senator with concerns about the latitude afforded to the governor.
“The bill before us has a lot of uncertainty in it right now because we don’t know exactly how much we expect to get from the federal government,” Eigel said. “We don’t know exactly when that’s going to come in. And the governor’s request is asking for essentially a lot of leeway in how to manage those funds in the event that they come in.”
Senators made it clear that while they accepted authorizing the governor’s ability to allocate large amounts of funding in the short term, the same would not be agreed upon long term.
Sen. Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, said he expects large amounts of the funding that was agreed upon in the supplemental bill to be carried over to the 2021 fiscal year budget, where the legislative branch will have far more discretion over spending choices than the executive. The new budget year begins July 1.
Rowden explained that it is unlikely the Parson administration will be able to spend several billion dollars in the next three months, which will leave some of that money for the legislature to allocate in the 2021 budget discussions.
“So I think there’s a good amount of that money that ends up getting reappropriated into the fiscal year ‘21 budget,” Rowden said. “And I think that that really becomes kind of where the more robust conversation happens.”
Additional reporting from the Missouri News Network