QuoteAfter months of waiting, the Senate Appropriations Committee's work marks the beginning of the final push toward passage of a massive package of bills that keep state government operating, with money for schools, roads and social services.https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/government-politics/missouri-senate-weighs-in-on-budget-adds-highway-funding-and-raises-for-low-income-workers/article_3e2402ca-01b6-11ef-a743-a351d387c3a2.html#tracking-source=home-top-story
Among changes promised by Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, who chairs the powerful panel, is the restoration of Gov. Mike Parson's call for universities to get a 3% increase in their state funding, up from the 2% level endorsed by the House.
Hough also said the Senate version will offer a different approach to improving Interstate 44. The House budget called for $728 million to widen the heavily traveled, cross-state route in key spots near Springfield, Joplin and Rolla."Governor Parson and I met last week to discuss the plan and we agreed on some changes," Hough said.
Also on tap is the expansion of U.S. Route 67 near Poplar Bluff to pave the way for transforming the roadway into Interstate 57 to the Missouri-Arkansas border. The Senate plan would bring spending on the expansion to $60 million with the possibility of additional federal dollars on the way.
Left by the wayside is a request by the Missouri Department of Transportation to add Amtrak service from Kansas City to St. Joseph and Kansas City to southwest Missouri.
The $38 million passenger rail plan also would have added a third daily train between St. Louis and Kansas City, but neither the House nor Senate funded the idea.
The Senate proposal, which will be debated at the committee level over the next two to three days, will give more than 40,000 state employees 3.2% raises, as was recommended by the governor.