The $27 billion state budget plan Missouri lawmakers sent Gov. Jay Nixon Thursday includes a 2 percent, across-the-board pay raise for state employees.
It also includes increased state funding for Lincoln University and the State Technical College of Missouri, Linn.
A demonstration farmers market would be launched in the Millbottom area west of the Capitol.
And there’s money to pay for another judge in the five-county 26th Circuit.
Because lawmakers finished their budget work three weeks before the General Assembly must end its work for the year, Nixon must sign or veto its line-items by May 6 — rather than having until the end of June to act on it before the state business year begins July 1.
“(That way) we can override if he vetoes anything,†Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard said, “just like last year.â€
The Missouri Constitution requires the governor to act on bills within 15 days, if he gets the bills while the Legislature still is in-session.
The Constitution also requires the budget to be finished by 6 p.m. on the first Friday after the first Monday in May — May 6 this year.
But passing it that late in the session means the lawmakers will have adjourned before the governor’s 15 days are up — giving him a deadline of 45 days from May 30 when the Constitution says the legislative session officially is finished for the year.
And, the Constitution adds, if the governor vetoes any bill or any line-item in a budget bill, “on or after the fifth day before the last day†of the session, lawmakers must wait until mid-September to consider overriding those vetoes.
The Legislature’s Republican leaders have argued overriding any budget line-item vetoes now gives agency administrators more certainty about how much money they’ll have for the entire business year — not just the last three-quarters of it.
The 2 percent raise for all state employees would go into effect July 1 — the beginning of the new business year — and is estimated to cost the state almost $42.7 million more, plus $10.4 million more for the additional benefits triggered by the raise.
For an employee earning $25,000 a year, the raise would be $500 — or $9.61 more a week before taxes.
The final budget version includes $20,600,972 (including $2 million for land grant programs) in state-aid to Lincoln University — up from this year’s $18.9 million appropriation.
And Linn-based State Tech would see $5,887,971 in state aid.
Both schools also would share in the total 4 percent increase in performance funding allocated for all public colleges and universities.
The exact amount still was being calculated Thursday, since the final budget was 2 percent smaller than Nixon had proposed in January.
That means LU’s share could be around $700,000, and State Tech’s performance funding share could be more than $201,500.
Since Nixon still could veto or withhold money from the budget, LU President Kevin Rome told the News Tribune he’d prefer to comment on Lincoln’s budget after the governor has made his decisions.
State Tech President Don Claycomb said Thursday: “State Tech is appreciative of the support demonstrated by the General Assembly in passing the budget that was passed today.
“We are also appreciative of the support Gov. Nixon demonstrated as the result of the amount he placed in his budget recommendation.â€
For the second year, lawmakers included $250,000 for a new farmers market in Jefferson City.
Sen. Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, told Sen. Jill Schupp, D-Creve Couer, the state Agriculture department is “trying to build a pilot program in a (former) industrial area of town, where there is some re-development going on, to use it as a model†for other areas to follow.
Last year, Nixon withheld a similar amount of money lawmakers had placed in the 2015-16 state operating budget.
The budget lawmakers sent Nixon Thursday also includes $211,000 for a third circuit court judge in the area that includes Moniteau, Morgan, Miller, Camden and Osage counties.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Bob Dixon, R-Springfield, noted: “That funding is contingent on the passing of the authorizing legislation, which will be before (the Senate) probably next week.â€
Rep. Rocky Miller sponsors the bill, which the House passed March 31 by a 143-6 margin.
Miller will present the bill to the Senate committee Tuesday.
Kehoe’s Senate district covers three of the five counties.
“It’s very important to those counties,†he said. “I believe the first piece of legislation filed to expand that circuit to three judges was filed by the late John Russell.â€
Term limits forced Russell to leave the Legislature in 2005, after serving 14 years in the House and 28 in the Senate. He died last month at age 84.
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