Missouri House Completes Work on $23.2 Billion Budget
Posted by GSDispatch Editor in by Jeff Grisamore
Rep. Grisamore’s Amendments Restore Over $4 Million for Disabilities & Domestic Violence Shelters
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – This week the Missouri House of Representatives completed work on a $23.2 billion state budget that is balanced. The House-approved budget, which now goes to the state Senate for consideration, includes more than $5.2 billion for education and maintains full funding for the school foundation formula.
Rep. Jeff Grisamore Speaks on the House Floor on Behalf of Vulnerable Missourians
“With property tax revenues for schools down statewide, it is all the more important that the state makes funding for K-12 education a high priority,” Rep. Jeff Grisamore, R-Lee’s Summit/Greenwood, said. “State revenue has been down billions in recent years, so the fact we have been able to hold harmless education funding and maintain funding levels this year and last is a huge victory for public education.”
Grisamore serves on both the House Budget Committee and the Appropriations Committee for Health, Mental Health and Social Services, which oversees more than $10 billion of the state budget. He successfully included several amendments in the final House budget.
Hope House, a domestic violence shelter with locations in Lee’s Summit and Independence, was a beneficiary of Grisamore’s efforts. The governor’s budget recommendations called for a reduction of $712,500 in core funding for shelters serving women and children affected by domestic violence, like Hope House.
On Monday, April 4th, MaryAnn Metheny, the Director of Hope House will be in Jefferson City to present to the Missouri Children’s Services Commission the findings of a subcommittee/working group she chaired looking at the issues relating to children affected by domestic violence. Grisamore serves as chairman of the Children’s Services Commission.
Rep. Grisamore carried an amendment in the appropriations committee to restore that $712,500 and also successfully fought off an amendment in the full budget committee to eliminate the funding.
On the House floor Grisamore said women and children affected by domestic violence are among our most vulnerable citizens, noting an increase of 50 percent in the incidence of domestic violence with 3 to 4 out of 5 women seeking help being turned away for lack of resources.
Individuals with disabilities and their families also benefited from Grisamore’s work in the budget process. The governor’s recommended budget had called for a 2 percent reduction—of $3.4 million—in funding for developmental disabilities community providers, like Community of the Good Shepherd with service locations in Lee’s Summit and Kansas City.
Grisamore sponsored budget amendments that passed on the House floor on Monday to restore 1.9 percent or $3.29 million to the budget to serve individuals with disabilities in community settings.
Speaking on the House floor, Grisamore said, “Individuals with disabilities should be among those who receive the first portions of government funding.”
Grisamore also carried an amendment to restore $200,000 in the budget for mobile dental services that has served adults with disabilities throughout the state in partnership with the Elks civic group. One of those mobile units has operated out of Truman Hospital—Lakewood in Lee’s Summit, under the leadership of Dr. John Dane.
“Now that our committee and House work on the budget is done, I am focused on securing passage of more than a dozen bills that have passed through our Disabilities Services Committee,” said Grisamore.
Among those disabilities-related bills is House Committee Substitute for House Bill 555, an omnibus disabilities-related bill that combines 10 bills heard in the Disabilities Services Committee, which Grisamore chairs.
