Education, budget and Medicaid top agenda in legislature's final weeks

By Marc Powers

Nevada Daily Mail

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Riding a wave of momentum following significant victories in the fall elections, the Republican-led Missouri General Assembly managed by mid-March to dispose of three politically contentious issues that lawmakers had grappled with for years.

Upon their return on Tuesday from spring recess for the final seven weeks of the 2005 legislative session, however, several matters bound to stir controversy -- most notably balancing the state budget, revising the funding distribution system for public schools and streamlining Medicaid -- will be awaiting attention.

Bolstered by their 97-65 majority in the House of Representatives and 22-10 advantage in the Senate, Republicans pushed through two of their top priorities -- an overhaul of the workers' compensation system and limits on civil lawsuits -- with relative ease. Gov. Matt Blunt, a Republican, praised lawmakers for an atypically productive first half.

"It is truly historic to take two of states largest problems and two very complicated issues and address those quickly," Blunt said.

A third issue that consumed much time and effort in recent years -- dropping the regional designation from Southwest Missouri State University's name -- also has cleared the legislature. Blunt has already signed that bill into law.

Passing a $19 billion state budget will dominate much of the session's remaining weeks. The House traditionally tries to forward the budget to the Senate before the midyear break, but so far the various appropriations bills haven't even cleared the House Budget Committee, which has been looking for ways to plug a $239.2 million hole in the spending plan Blunt presented in January.

Blunt initially intended for the legislature to pass an unbalanced budget, which he would bring into balance after the start of the new fiscal year on July 1 by ordering his department heads to make cuts.

House Republican leaders, however, were cool to surrendering their authority to make such decisions and are looking to find the savings themselves. In light of that resistance, Blunt on Thursday suggested where the cuts should be made. At least some of those ideas are likely to be incorporated into the House's version of the budget.

While generally supportive of Blunt's calls for deep cuts in social welfare spending, House Republicans are trying to save certain programs the governor originally wanted to eliminate, such as the First Steps program for infants and toddlers with severe developmental disabilities.

Radical reductions to Medicaid, however, remains a major goal of Republican leaders.

Blunt wants $626 million in core cuts to the joint state and federal health-care program for the poor. Even with those savings, Medicaid's cost is expected to grow to more than $5.3 billion for the upcoming fiscal year.

Vital to achieving those savings is a bill the Senate passed before the break that would tighten Medicaid eligibility requirements and eliminate or reduce services for more than 100,000 current Medicaid recipients.

House Democrats plan to fight the changes and claim Blunt is being short-sighted in seeking to reduce access to the only health-care services many Missourians receive.

"Let's be clear about this: People are still going to get sick; people are still going to have disabilities; and people are still going to get old," said House Minority Floor Leader Jeff Harris, D-Columbia. "We have address this not just this year but beyond." Blunt steadfastly maintains that Missouri can no longer afford Medicaid as it currently exists while adequately funding other budget priorities.

"The only way you can increase funding for classrooms and hold the line on taxes is to reduce spending in state government," Blunt said. "And the true way to reduce spending in state government is to reduce spending within social welfare programs."

Developing a new mechanism for distributing state money to local school districts will also prove a politically tricky task.

Unlike with most major issues, there are no clear splits along party lines when it comes to education funding. With every lawmaker looking to protect the interests of the individual school districts they represent, however, crafting a workable system that has sufficient support for passage won't be easy as any proposed changes will inevitably mean more money for some districts and less for others.

A special legislative committee has been working on the issue since January, but neither chamber has yet debated an education funding overhaul.

Given the short time left for tackling such an expansive issue in which so many competing interests have a stake, many lawmakers doubt whether the job can be completed this year.

House Speaker Rod Jetton, R-Marble Hill, had been among the skeptical but now says passage is possible, although not guaranteed, thanks to groundwork laid so far.

"Maybe we have a legitimate shot as at getting this done," Jetton said.