Blunt signs extra spending bill

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Gov. Matt Blunt has signed legislation allowing the state to spend an additional $217.5 million in the next few months to cover unanticipated expenses, primarily in the Medicaid health care program for the poor.

The spending authority is in addition to state's $18.9 billion operating budget for the fiscal year that ends June 30. Blunt's office said Monday that he had privately signed the legislation on Saturday.

Some of the additional Medicaid spending could go toward services that Blunt and fellow Republican legislative leaders have targeted for cuts in the next fiscal year. Because some of those cuts require changes in law, the funding for the services had to continue in the current fiscal year.

It also includes an extra $4.5 million for the First Steps program for developmentally disabled infants and toddlers. That program also is targeted for an overhaul in Blunt's budget proposal for the fiscal year starting July 1.

Among other additional expenditures is $500,000 for the Missouri State Highway Patrol's crime lab to analyze DNA samples from felons. A law enacted last year required DNA samples to be taken from all felons, instead of only a limited number of violent and sexual offenders as had been the case.

Blunt's office said the bill also includes money to operate a toll-free help center in Missouri -- instead of India or another state -- for people who receive food stamps and welfare payments through electronic benefit cards.

The India call center operated by a government contractor became an issue in last year's gubernatorial campaign, and it was moved to Wisconsin in July. In January, the Department of Social Services said the call center was being moved to Missouri, but would cost about $1 million more annually to operate than had it remained in India.

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Spending bill is HB14.

On the Net:

Legislature: http://www.moga.state.mo.us

Blunt: http://www.gov.mo.gov