51ºÚÁÏ

JEFFERSON CITY — A House panel inched closer to endorsing a $50 billion spending plan for state government Monday, hurrying through a series of amendments in order to bring the package to a vote on the floor as early as next week.

The pared-down version of Gov. Mike Parson’s spending blueprint boosts spending for work on Interstate 44 while reducing a proposed increase for colleges and universities from 3% to 2%.

The chairman of House Budget Committee, Rep. Cody Smith, R-Carthage, drew criticism for reducing the time sought by Democrats to add amendments, saying he was trying to avoid a scenario where Democrats drag out the hearing with duplicative amendments.

“I don’t think again that it should take eight hours to do the markup hearing,� Smith said, instead offering a four-hour window to make changes.

“That’s essentially unheard of in my eight years in this committee for markup,â€� said Rep. Peter Merideth, D-51ºÚÁÏ.

Smith, who is a candidate for state treasurer, said he achieved the reductions through a reduction in emergency federal funding and a decline in the number of people receiving Medicaid health insurance benefits.

Some of those reductions are offset by higher lottery revenue estimates.

Among the new increases is the addition of $5 million for payments to counties for the cost of housing prisoners, bringing the daily reimbursement rate to about $25 per day.

The latest proposal also includes $13.3 million for a new state park in McDonald County in the southwestern corner of Missouri. The money would come despite Republicans blocking funding in previous budgets to open at least three other state parks, including the Rock Island pedestrian and biking trail, Jay Nixon State Park and a park on the Eleven Point River.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources declined to comment on the proposal, which would cover an estimated 1,800 acres.

The vice chairman of the committee, Rep. Dirk Deaton, R-Noel, is from McDonald County. In addition to the new park, the spending plan includes $1 million for Noel to help the city recover from the closure of a Tyson chicken processing plant that had employed 1,500 workers.

The committee also added in a $500,000 earmark for a youth sports complex in Chesterfield and $250,000 to help 51ºÚÁÏ recruit and retain more police officers.

The spending plan, which would cover state expenses for the fiscal year beginning July 1, comes a year after the Legislature put nearly $3 billion into the long-sought widening of Interstate 70.

In the new budget, $727 million was inserted to rebuild and widen the Interstate 44 corridor, which runs southwest from 51ºÚÁÏ to Joplin on Missouri’s western border.

In January, Parson called on lawmakers to approve a $53 billion spending blueprint that includes raises for Missouri school teachers. If approved, minimum teacher pay would rise to $40,000, up from the current $25,000.

Also on tap is a 3.2% increase for state employees, who are among the lowest-paid in the nation.

The proposal also contains less money to expand child care availability in the state. Smith suggested that there is less need for child care than the governor and business groups believe.

Smith also inserted $8 million in the package to pay for Parson’s decision to send Missouri National Guard troops to help patrol the nation’s southern border in Texas.

The latest version also strips out a $52.3 million proposal to transform the abandoned Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City into a tourist attraction.

Smith earlier said negative reaction from members of the budget committee contributed to the plan’s demise. During a hearing on the proposal, lawmakers called the idea “gruesome� because of the violence and death associated with the facility.

Once the committee gives its final approval, the package moves to the full House, which is expected to take up the blueprint next week.

The legislation is .