House kills rainy day authorization

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- It will be up to the Senate to cut an additional $53 million from an already strained Missouri budget after the House of Representatives on Tuesday failed to produce the supermajority needed to authorize tapping the state's Rainy Day Fund.

Lawmakers spent about 2 1/2 hours debating the bill, but the outcome was never in doubt. Democrats, who control the House, all voted for the measure and were joined by only two Republicans.

The announced outcome was 87-70. Because a two-thirds majority was necessary to send the measure to the Senate, the bill fell 22 votes short of the required 109.

Members of Southeast Missouri's House delegation voted in lockstep with their parties. The region's five Democrats voted for the bill, while eight area Republicans opposed it. One local Republican was absent.

Gov. Bob Holden, who first proposed tapping the fund, said people who rely on programs that may be eliminated will be hard hit by the House's failure to endorse his plan.

The measure would have authorized the state to use $53 million from the fund, with the money to be repaid over the next three years. A $19 billion budget passed by the House last week for the fiscal year that starts July 1 has an estimated shortfall of $53 million.

Holden reacted to the House vote with a terse statement, calling Republicans "fiscally irresponsible" and "mean-spirited."

"The House minority put every program in state government at risk by refusing to deal with the reality of our revenue crisis," Holden said.

Republicans said it was Holden and fellow Democrats who were acting unwise by seeking to spend the state's savings.

"It's not a responsible way of doing government," said Rep. Ken Legan of Halfway, the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee. "The sky is not falling today. I don't go borrowing money from my bank until the sky is falling."

"It was a setback," Holden said. "The people were not well served. The Senate is going to be forced to try to balance an irresponsible budget sent to them by the House."

The Republican-controlled Senate is working on the 12 bills that make up the $19 billion state budget for fiscal year 2003, which begins July 1. The budget measures came over from the House last week in the red, a situation that would have been addressed by using the state's reserves but one senators must now rectify.

State Sen. John Russell, R-Lebanon, said the Senate Appropriations Committee he chairs is looking for more cuts but hasn't identified any specific programs.

He said core spending, such as programs at the Department of Mental Health and transit services for the elderly, would be protected first.

Russell said it "would have been nice" if the House had endorsed using the Rainy Day Fund. However, he noted it only would have been one-time money that lawmakers would have been forced to start paying back in the next fiscal year.

Until now, fully funding the formula for distributing state aid to local school districts had been considered the top priority for both parties.

Russell said the Senate may look at increasing education spending by $110 million -- only half of the $220 million originally suggested by Holden.

Bill's future was in doubt

The House gave first-round approval to the Rainy Day Fund bill on Monday in a vote that required only a simple majority. But following that vote, it was clear the measure was doomed.

The bill's sponsor, state Rep. Tim Green, D-St. Louis, originally indicated he would hold back on a final vote to see if the Senate could balance the budget without it but later changed his mind.

"I felt the House had an obligation to send over a balanced budget instead of waiting for the Senate to make cuts," Green said.

During floor debate, state Rep. Rod Jetton, R-Marble Hill, said there were other ways to balance the budget, such as allowing the 3 percent of departmental budgets held in reserve to be used. Jetton said that could give lawmakers anywhere from $70 million to $300 million more to work with.

Using the Rainy Day Fund, Jetton said, would simply postpone the problem.

"How are we going to pay this back next year with interest?" Jetton asked.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

mpowers@semissourian.com

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