Education wins, Greitens and abortion providers lose in Missouri House budget

March 29--JEFFERSON CITY -- A state budget worth nearly $28 billion is on its way to the Missouri Senate with big wins for K-12 and higher education and disappointment for lawmakers hoping to add more funds to health services for low-income people.

Legislators shot down key priorities in Republican Gov. Eric Greitens' budget, instead carving their own way, but House Democrats' efforts were often thwarted as they advanced their own spending priorities and tried to fend off an amendment to defund Planned Parenthood.

The House gave final approval to its budget Thursday after Tuesday's 10-hour debate and first-round approval. The big winners were primarily Republican priorities.

Here's a scorecard.

Winner: Higher education

Colleges and universities were spared another $70 million in cuts on top of reductions passed last year by the General Assembly and deepened by Greitens. When lawmakers returned this session, Greitens proposed cutting yet again but met opposition in the House Budget Committee.

To hold on to those funds, Missouri colleges had to agree that they wouldn't raise tuition by more than 1 percent for next school year. The idea, promoted by Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick, a Shell Knob Republican and chair of the budget committee, was aimed at keeping higher education affordable.

Rep. Kip Kendrick, a Columbia Democrat and ranking member of the budget committee, said during committee work that he was happy to see the investment in education, though it didn't restore everything colleges had lost.

"If there is a silver lining to all the proposed cuts that were put out there, it's allowed us to focus in on higher ed this year in such a way that hopefully we can continue to gain on this momentum going into the future," Kendrick said.

Loser: Abortion providers

Republican Rep. Robert Ross, of Yukon, found support for an amendment barring any state funds from being spent to reimburse services at health care providers that also perform abortions, like Planned Parenthood or physicians' offices. He claimed clinics had been able to skirt bans on government funding for abortions by setting up a "shell game."

"I'm saying that I don't want our tax dollars used for elective abortions in these clinics," Ross said during Tuesday's debate. "It's just that simple."

Ross and Rep. Judy Morgan shouted over each other on the House floor about the proposal as Morgan pointed to the Hyde Amendment, a ban on federal reimbursements for abortion unless a pregnancy presents a threat to a woman's life or resulted from rape or incest.

"There's a federal law that talks about this, gentleman, and I'm so sick of this on this floor -- of people like you getting up and acting like you know something that you don't," said Morgan, a Kansas City Democrat.

States can choose whether they want to use their state Medicaid funds -- without federal dollars -- to provide abortion, but according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, Missouri does not. The amendment would apparently reach further and bar Medicaid reimbursement for other services commonly provided at women's clinics, such as screenings for cervical cancer and sexually transmitted diseases.

"It is unacceptable that lawmakers voted to cut Missourians' access to preventive care like birth control and (sexually transmitted infection) testing and treatment," said M'Evie Mead, director of policy and organizing for Planned Parenthood Advocates in Missouri. "This policy will do nothing to improve the health of Missouri women and children -- rather, restricting access will lead to worse outcomes. What's more, this move puts the entire Medicaid program in violation of federal Medicaid law."

Winner: K-12 education

Missouri's K-12 schools got an extra $48 million in the House budget to fully fund the formula that doles out money to the state's public schools. Greitens' budget proposal fell $48 million short of full funding for the state's $6.1 billion K-12 budget.

The win for schools comes with caveats. Morgan said she was disappointed that the House didn't add more funds for school transportation. Districts will have to use some of their base funding for that, she said.

"What that means is districts -- they've got to get those kids to school, so they're going to have to pay for that bus transportation," Morgan said.

The General Assembly lowered the target for school funding in 2016 by reducing the amount necessary to fully fund the formula. Morgan argued the change allowed lawmakers to say, "We're going to put less money in, but we're going to say it's fully funded."

Loser: Gov. Greitens

The Republican House split with Missouri's Republican governor on several key priorities, funneling more money into education and rejecting his proposal to spend $25 million to help cities and counties with infrastructure projects.

Greitens had sought to take almost $80 million that the state had put aside for the Children's Health Insurance Program and spend it on rural broadband and other rural programs. The House Budget Committee instead put the cash toward fully funding K-12 education.

"Missouri's rural communities have been ignored for too long," Greitens said when he announced the plan. "I'm proud to put forward this rural growth plan because I believe Missourians in rural towns across the state need us to invest in and fight for them."

Greitens also had sought to boost infrastructure spending through a program Fitzpatrick said wasn't "fully baked."

"There's really no statutory guidance on something like that, and we would just be giving kind of full discretion to the department with a pretty large sum of money," Fitzpatrick said.

Greitens' office did not respond to a request for comment.

Mixed results: Low-income seniors, disabled people

The House partially restored cuts to the Medicaid reimbursements that the state gives health care and in-home care providers. Last year, lawmakers cut various providers by at least 3 percent. They restored 1.5 percent for most providers and 1.75 percent for nursing homes.

"Hopefully that will provide a little bit of relief to Medicaid providers and help them be able to have lower turnover (and) provide better service to people in need," Fitzpatrick said.

Rep. Deb Lavender, a Kirkwood Democrat, would have liked to see more. She proposed amendments that would have allocated money "sitting" in various state funds to help nursing homes and home-based services for disabled people.

She called the restoration "better than nothing."

"Did you need to get help getting up this morning? Did you need any help get shower? How about get dressed? How about prepare for the day?" Lavender said on the House floor before voting against the bill funding the state's health programs.

Lavender said disabled people may need help living independently that lawmakers don't.

She also tried to restore MORx, a prescription drug coverage program for low-income seniors that was cut last year. More than 60,000 seniors lost their coverage.

"Were you able to take all your medications this morning that you were supposed to take, or are you spreading them out because you can't afford all the doctor prescribed to keep you healthy?" Lavender said. "Did your loved one get the care they needed in their nursing home this morning, or is the nursing home short of staff and no one answered their call button for 30 minutes or more while they sat in soiled linen?"

Fitzpatrick disputed the notion that various state funds represent a pool of cash and called amendments drawing money from those funds "fake." He said those funds fluctuate widely, may be close to empty on some days and are not reliable sources of money.

"I'm happy if they want to have a real debate about do we fund tourism or do we fund (consumer-directed services)? Do we fund these higher ed cooperative projects, like the med school in Springfield, or do we fund MORx?" Fitzpatrick said. "Let's have that debate. I'm happy to do that."

___

(c)2018 The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.)

Visit The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.) at www.kansascity.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.