UPDATE: $22.8 billion state budget passes House committee after 14-hour session

JEFFERSON CITY — College scholarships and the governor’s dinner table were saved from funding losses in the $22.8 billion state budget passed by the House Budget Committee late Wednesday night.

But despite Democrats’ efforts to rescue social services and health care programs from the ax, many of those fell victim to budget cuts under the Republicans’ bills.

The House’s version of the budget is composed of 13 bills that will be ready for debate on the House floor in two weeks, committee chairman Allen Icet, R-Wildwood, said.

In a 14-hour hearing on Wednesday, committee members reviewed 259 amendment proposals for the bills and then passed all the bills.

Now that the bills have gone through the committee, they must pass the House floor and then the Senate Appropriations Committee before becoming the finalized state budget for fiscal year 2010.

When Icet introduced the bills late last week, the 13 Democrats on the 29-member committee found plenty of material they deemed objectionable.

The original budget removed more than $526 million in general revenue funds from K-12 education and cut funding from the Access Missouri and Bright Flight scholarships.

Icet’s draft of the budget slashed Gov. Jay Nixon’s proposals to increase Medicaid eligibility to 50 percent of the poverty level and expand health care coverage.

Finally, social services — including mental health and senior services — received millions of dollars in cuts.

But on Wednesday, in what became known as the “mega amendment,” Icet restored funding to the college scholarships.

Also in that amendment, which affected funding in four of the 13 budget bills, were monetary increases for community programs, University of Missouri System hospitals and clinics and the state tourism industry.

Even before Nixon introduced his proposed budget in his State of the State address in January, Republicans said they would not rely on federal stimulus dollars to balance the budget. But Icet ultimately used $7 million of federal stimulus money in his mega amendment and balanced the House’s version of the budget with nearly $300 million* of the $4 billion available to Missouri through the federal stimulus package signed by President Barack Obama.

But the Medicaid and social services cuts remained, despite Democrats’ attempts to restore those cuts through numerous amendment proposals reviewed on Wednesday.

Efforts to restore cuts made in those programs were made difficult by a House rule that allows committee members to add expenses to the proposed budget only if they can produce an offsetting cut that would balance the budget.

The governor’s office came under the knife dozens of times in the proposed amendments. The Office of Administration received so many budget cuts — more than $6 million’s worth — that Nixon’s chief of staff phoned Icet during a break to express his frustration.

Even Nixon’s home staff wasn’t safe from cuts. About 12 hours into the committee hearing on Wednesday night, Democrats came to the rescue of Nixon’s dinner table.

Rep. Ryan Silvey, R-Jackson County, sponsored two amendment proposals that would have fired the Governor’s Mansion executive chef, whose $45,000 salary would have instead gone toward compensating the families of firefighters killed while on duty.

Silvey justified his amendments by arguing that the Governor’s Mansion belongs to the taxpayers. He said that when he has asked his own constituents if they consider a $45,000 chef necessary in Nixon’s household, he usually hears, “No.”

Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, called the amendments a partisan attack and said that making cuts within the governor’s home “is a little bit of a reach. And I hope that we wouldn’t cross over that line.”

The disagreement crossed party lines when Rep. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, argued that the governor should be able to entertain other heads of state and dignitaries and provide a good meal.

When asked by Rep. Jason Kander, D-Kansas City, Silvey admitted he did not propose such an amendment when former Republican Gov. Matt Blunt was in office.

“When Gov. Blunt was governor, we had a surplus,” Silvey said. “And I’m not saying that that’s because of Gov. Blunt or because of Gov. Nixon. What I’m saying is, when we have a deficit, we look at things a little more closely.”

After Kelly jokingly said he “would chip in for a treadmill” for Nixon, the amendments were ultimately rejected in a vote.

The hearing concluded at 11:50 p.m. on Wednesday, after all 13 bills were passed. The votes in four of the bills showed strong divisions between the two parties, with rejection by Democrats and approval from Republicans. Those bills dealt with appropriations to social services, mental health, health and senior services, transportation, public safety, Nixon’s office and K-12 education.

Kelly said he fundamentally disagrees with Icet about health care and was not surprised by the outcome of most of the amendment proposals. But Kelly, who chaired the committee from 1991 to 1994 and is now the leading Democrat in the committee, also complimented Icet’s management skills as chairman.

“I have incredible admiration for his handling of the process in a very, very challenging and complex year,” Kelly said. “He did a masterful job of handling it.”

Icet, who has chaired the committee since 2006, said his next priority is to communicate with Nixon and the state Senate about using federal stimulus dollars to supplement the proposed state budget.

Icet also said he expects the committee-approved budget to move to the House floor for debate by March 26, after the legislators’ week-long spring break that begins Thursday afternoon.