Projects to build a new Fulton State Hospital and to renovate the current St. Mary's Health Center complex are included in the Senate's version of the state budget for the 2014-15 business year.
The Senate passed the 13 budget bills Monday night and Tuesday morning.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, expects a House-Senate conference committee to begin discussing the differences between the two versions later this week, so they can agree on a final budget package to send to Gov. Jay Nixon.
Both House and Senate agreed on a 1 percent, across-the-board pay raise for state employees, so that part of the legislation is a "done-deal" that won't be part of any negotiations.
Schaefer noted during this week's debate that both the Fulton and St. Mary's projects are included in more than one bill being considered by lawmakers this year.
"One thing we had to make the decision in the Appropriations Committee," Schaefer explained to the full Senate, "were we going to keep the door open for various options? Which is exactly what we did."
The budget bills include Nixon's $198 million proposal for building a new Fulton State Hospital.
"The governor's plan was, basically, borrowing the money for 25 years, with a $14.2 million per year repayment - over the course, we would pay about $150 million in interest on that," he said. "We do have the line for the approval of the $198 million, which would actually be the authority to build the hospital."
Fulton State Hospital is the oldest state mental health facility west of the Mississippi River, and almost all lawmakers agree it's in such poor condition that it must be replaced with a safer, more modern facility.
"The House proposal was to go to five years and save us about $150 million," Schaefer told the Senate Monday afternoon, "and would cost about $44 million a year - but that is contingent on House Bill 2020 passing."
That capital improvements bill- which includes only funding for a new Fulton hospital - won preliminary approval in the House on Tuesday, but still must win final passage before it can be sent to the Senate.
Schaefer noted lawmakers also have a bonding bill, passed by the Senate and waiting for House debate, that includes $200 million for building a new Fulton hospital.
"I would categorize the situation with Fulton," he told the Senate, "that all the options are still on the table, and we will have to make some final decisions in the remaining two weeks."
That bonding bill also includes $10 million for renovating St. Mary's Health Center, for use by Lincoln University's nursing program and, perhaps, Linn State Technical College and state government itself.
Nixon asked for the $10 million in his budget proposal last January, after St. Mary's officials agreed to donate the current property to the state after the hospital moves to its new facility along Highway 179 in November.
But the budget endorsed by the Senate includes only $6 million for the St. Mary's project, Schaefer said.
"I don't believe that $10 million is really necessary," he told the News Tribune on Tuesday. "I think we can probably get it done for a little less, and save the taxpayers some money."
Schaefer noted Nixon also could pay for some of the St. Mary's renovation work with part of the $38 million approved last year, in a two-year capital improvements bill, and designated for a new state office building that Nixon never has supported.