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First year House budget leaders find success in numbers

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – In an interview with The Missouri Times’ #MoLeg Podcast crew, Representative Justin Alferman came to speak on his behalf as Vice Chair of the Missouri House Budget committee as he and and the House prepare to work up the state’s overall budget of $27 billion.

With the Budget Committee having the approved budget, the House is expected to truly take up in earnest the budget next week, planning to perfect it on Tuesday. Alferman and his fellow representative, Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick, R-Shell Knob, are proud to present their product coming out the committee.

“All of the appropriations chairs, the chairmen and every member of that committee has worked extremely hard to get to the point where we’re at, even though it wasn’t easy.” Alferman said.

Alferman told the Missouri Times that the level of cooperation and inclusiveness of the appropriations committees into the workings of the budget made the process much more proficient than he’s seen in his time on staff since 2008. This is partly due to the way the budget committee is currently prioritized.

Every member of budget is also a member of an appropriations committee, allowing for said members to incorporate methods in specific areas that were formerly separate into the full budget.

Another testament to Fitzpatrick and Alferman’s work is shown in the now fully-funded foundation formula. The education foundation formula was created by the Missouri Legislature to ensure that every school district has the proper funding needed to provide education to grades K-12. This is the first time that statute has had a definite “Yes” in approving the program in years.

Combine that with restoration of the withholds and the transportation cuts to K-12 education, this becomes a huge win for the state budget.

Alferman went on to credit Fitzpatrick for the success in accomplishing these goals.

“From day one [Fitzpatrick] said ‘I want to take a run at this. I want to get this done.’ And the fact that he’s been able to do it with educations committees to actually get this done is nothing short of remarkable,” Alferman said.

As a team, Alferman and Fitzpatrick are the youngest members to be in such influential positions within the Missouri House Budget committee. At the age of 31 and 29 respectively, Alferman  and Fitzpatrick have proven to be quite valuable in their efforts. While it’s the first time for each of them in their respective positions, they’re far from inexperienced.

“If you look at Scott, this will be his fifth year. So he’s already a seasoned veteran and not yet thirty,” Alferman said.

It’s clear that the experience between the two representatives play a large part in the leadership and success of the committee, evidenced by their willingness to guide the members of their committee, including a number of freshmen legislators, through the budget process.

Both men could often be seen walking members through the procedures to make amendments as well as giving step-by-step explanations and answering questions throughout the months-long process.

“The level of inclusion has been remarkable across party lines, the chair has shown so much cooperation with every member,” Alferman said.

Regarding whether supermajority played a part in the cooperation that made the budget such an easy process, Alferman stated that it had more to do with the leadership within the committee and its willingness to work with both parties.

“The way that Rep. Fitzpatrick looks at is that if it’s a good idea then we’re going to do it,” Alferman said. “If there’s a disagreement on something, do it respectfully, but if it’s a good idea we shouldn’t be rejecting it just because it’s a minority member’s idea.”

He also explained that at the end of the day budget transcends partisan lines. The job itself and they work they do is more important than the disagreements that may occur in the budget making process.

Rep. Alferman talks all things budget