Missourians hoping that lawmakers last week would restore funding for the St. Mary's Health Center renovations project in Jefferson City were destined to be disappointed.
That was among Gov. Jay Nixon's vetoes that never were in the leadership's override plans.
"I think in those lines that we chose," Senate Appropriations Chairman Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, said late Wednesday night, "we wanted to send a very strong message that these are things that we believe the governor should take the second chance to do the right thing."
Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, added: "They wanted to find what was most appropriate for Missourians on different pieces of the budget, where people were really getting hurt."
Last June, the governor vetoed more than 150 lines in the 15 appropriations bills that lawmakers passed last spring - including the $6 million designated to pay for renovations of the current St. Mary's Health Center complex, after the hospital moves to its new facility in November.
Schaefer and House Budget Committee Chairman Rick Stream, R-Kirkwood, planned to seek overrides on more than one-third of those line-item vetoes.
The governor said last summer he had targeted new programs and new funding for his vetoes, but Kehoe last week disagreed.
"A lot of those programs weren't new," Kehoe said. "As a matter of fact, some of his line-item vetoes eliminated existing programs that have been in place for a long time."
Eventually, lawmakers on Wednesday overrode 47 of the governor's line-item vetoes, restoring more than $53 million to the state's budget.
On Friday, Nixon froze most of that money, restricting its spending "to ensure that the budget is balanced" and to prevent the growth of government "beyond available revenues."
Nixon originally backed the St. Mary's project, and his administration had been negotiating with SSM Healthcare officials about the terms of the project, which would have involved SSM donating the current property between Missouri Boulevard and Bolivar Street to the state under certain conditions.
Those conditions included preventing the property from becoming a competing health care site with the new St. Mary's hospital.
Under the proposed agreement, the state would renovate the property, and turn about a third of it over to Lincoln University for an expanded nursing education program.
When Nixon vetoed the $6 million budget item, the state also stopped its negotiations with SSM officials.
The State Technical College of Missouri, Linn, also expressed interest in using some of the space for its medical technology program.
And the Cole County Health Department said it was interested in moving from its Industrial Drive location to the old hospital site.
But those programs all would have left about half of the current St. Mary's complex vacant - and legislative leaders saw an opportunity to use that space for state government operations.
One proposal involved moving the state Transportation Department from its current headquarters building just east of the Capitol to the St. Mary's site, which then would make the MoDOT building available for some offices now located in the Capitol - particularly those of legislative support staff.
Lawmakers have said that would allow the removal of the House mezzanine offices which can be reached only by stairs and, therefore, don't comply with the accessibility requirements of the federal Americans With Disabilities Act.
Schaefer said the issue isn't gone.
"I suspect that we will, absolutely, be revisiting that," he said. "But, when the governor vetoes over 150 lines in the budget, we're surely limited by time in what we could take up.
"And we had to set priorities - those things that go directly to Missourians, particularly kids, those who were abused or victims of crimes."
After lawmakers sustained Nixon's vetoes on bills extending sales tax cuts or exemptions that the governor had said "blew a hole" in the budget, Nixon did release $143.6 million for local school districts and higher education institutions.
In Mid-Missouri, Lincoln University will get an additional $545,713, and the State Technical College of Missouri an additional $243,159.
For area elementary and secondary school districts, the additional funding will be:
• Cole County - Jefferson City, $560,144; Russellville R-1, $58,547; Blair Oaks R-2, 139,331; and Eugene R-5, $57,715.
• Callaway County - South Callaway R-2/Mokane, $18,497; New Bloomfield R-3, $118,176; Fulton, $79,453.
• Boone County - Southern Boone R-1/Ashland, $191,669; Columbia, $1,569,740.
• Camden County - Camdenton R-3, $135,732.
• Gasconade County - Hermann R-1, $66,328; Owensville R-2, $182,060.
• Maries County - Vienna R-1, $42,776; Belle-Bland R-2, $90,444.
• Miller County - Eldon R-1, $182,591; School of the Osage R-2, $41,506; Tuscumbia R-3, $41,819; St. Elizabeth R-4, $31,725; Iberia R-5, $100,142.
• Moniteau County - California R-1, $152,614; Clarksburg C-2, $19,597; High Point R-3, $11,023; Latham R-5, $7,270; Tipton R-6, $60,931; Jamestown C-1, $26,979.
• Morgan County - Stover R-1, $49,321; Versailles R-2, $54,471.
• Osage County - Chamois R-1, $32,961; Linn R-2, $62,148; Fatima-Westphalia R-3, $67,150.