-
The Senate’s plan to go beyond the $860 million initially proposed to expand Interstate 70 remained in the budget agreed to by a Senate-House conference committee Wednesday night. Other Senate positions that remained were state funding for public libraries and the elimination of anti-DEI language in the budget.
-
The Senate’s proposed budget is $4.2 billion more than what the Missouri House passed weeks ago. Like in the House, most of the debate in the Senate was spent over an amendment that would have inserted language against diversity, equity and inclusion.
-
A Missouri rule outlaws school libraries from offering books with "explicit sexual material," and threatens librarians with jail time and hefty fines. Meanwhile, the House voted to strip all state funding for libraries. But some librarians are fighting back.
-
The Missouri House had voted to prohibit spending for “staffing, vendors, consultants, or programs associated with diversity, equity and inclusion.” But Senate Appropriations Chair Lincoln Hough said after speaking with departments, businesses and vendors, he recommended removing that language.
-
Gov. Mike Parson requested $859 million from the Missouri legislature to widen three sections of Interstate 70, including from Blue Springs to Odessa. But House Budget Committee chair Cody Smith says there's little chance of federal aid for the project.
-
In both Kansas and Missouri, lawmakers are focusing heavily on the state budget, education issues, and targeting the rights of transgender residents.
-
Missouri library leaders say a plan by state legislators to strip funding for public libraries across the state would weaken rural libraries, and likely violates the state constitution.
-
Instead of speaking on the billions of dollars within the Missouri budget, House Democrats repeatedly spoke out against language added to each bill that prohibits spending on anything associated with diversity, equity and inclusion. That language is expected to be stripped out in the Senate.
-
The budget is less than Gov. Mike Parson’s initial proposal, and eliminates funding for a pre-K program and for public libraries. Democrats and Republicans repeatedly clashed over language that bans staffing for any programs or vendors "associated with diversity, equity and inclusion."
-
Missouri has a record budget surplus and this week, lawmakers will take up what is potentially its biggest plan for spending state dollars ever. So why isn’t the Republican governor’s plan sailing smoothly through the Republican-controlled legislature?
-
The bill would also lower income taxes and remove taxes on Social Security benefits, which both parties say could be helpful to seniors in the state.
-
In addition to proposing cuts to the lawmakers' priorities, Missouri House Budget Chairman Cody Smith, a Republican from Carthage, wants to cut all aid to libraries in retaliation for a lawsuit challenging a new state law.