JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A $1.2 billion proposal that would fund improvements to the Missouri Capitol, the Fulton mental hospital and other state-owned properties seems to be stalled as lawmakers move through the final week of session.
The proposal, carried in House Joint Resolution 14, includes $600 million in funding for higher education institutions, $100 million in funds for improvements to the Capitol, $40 million for state parks, $200 million for the construction of a new mental health facility in Callaway County, $20 million for an Elementary and Secondary Education revolving fund, and uses any additional bonds to create the “State Building and Infrastructure Revolving Fund.”
The resolution, sponsored by House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, moved out of the House Thursday with bipartisan support — 136 votes in a chamber with only 110 Republicans. The bill was led on the Democratic side by state Rep. Chris Kelley, D-Columbia, who was able to sway more than two dozen Democrats in its favor.
Despite that, Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey, R-St. Charles, said he thinks the issue should be part of a two year process, something he said he has communicated with Jones.
“We need to do a lot more analysis of those projects,” he said. “I want to make sure there aren’t projects on that list just because we have a list. So, I’m looking at the need for the investment, and also looking at if they have explored every opportunity for private funding.”
Dempsey said if some of the entities have available private funding, he wants it to be used, “so that when we do put public dollars, they go to as many projects as possible.”
The issue will be one of the focuses of Dempsey’s pending statewide tour this summer. He said he hopes to bring state senators and representatives in for meetings in their areas, visit the local item on the list of projects that could be funded by bond issuance, and hear from the local entities involved to learn about their needs.
The bonding language would amend the state’s constitution, so it would require a vote of the people. While Jones always said it was his hope to move it forward this year, he is mindful that it is a two-year process.
While a bond issuance would not move without support from the people, a budget bill would — and lawmakers passed a proposal similar to Gov. Jay Nixon’s recommendation to use extra revenue in the state’s coffers to fund more than $120 million in structural improvements. The legislature’s plan would include some $13 million for the Fulton hospital, $38 million for a new state office building, $20 million for state parks, and $50 million for structural repairs to the Capitol.
Most observers agree that the Capitol desperately needs renovation. The humidity and lack of sealed windows, for example, is detrimental to some of the priceless paintings in the buildings, said state Rep. Tom Flanigan, R-Carthage, a member of the Second State Capitol Commission, a gubernatorial appointed board tasked with managing the Capitol grounds. The humidity, he said, could be fixed with a HVAC system and new, sealed windows, which the $50 million is aimed at fixing.
Earlier this month, lawmakers celebrated the centennial of the groundbreaking for the second state Capitol. The building also needs structural improvements, including repairs to its stonework and underpinnings, Flanigan said.
To contact Eli Yokley, email eli@themissouritimes.com, or via Twitter at @eyokley.
