Missouri House budget writers are introducing their budget bills today, but Budget Committee Chair Rick Stream, R-Kirkwood, says the governor’s plan to expand Medicaid won’t be in their proposal for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
The House budget bills will include money the state could get through Internet sales tax collections, changes in the state “circuit breaker” tax credit for renters and a tax amnesty program.
Stream said the approximately $46 million that Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon put into his budget as money that would be saved or generated from the Medicaid expansion had to be made up in other areas.
“We had to take $46 million out of the budget of (general revenue). We’ve spread it out over different areas. I can’t make any promises where it will eventually end up,” he said.
Some of that cut was to the governor’s recommended $34 million spending increase on higher education incentive funding based on improved outcomes.
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In the coming weeks, the House Budget Committee will begin the process of vetting the budget bills. Once they pass the chamber, the Senate will get its shot.
The Legislature has until May 10 to adopt a fiscal 2014 budget.
This 2000 file photo shows the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City. Photo by J.B. Forbes.
Elizabeth Crisp covers Missouri politics and state government for the Post-Dispatch. Follow her on Twitter at @elizabethcrisp.
