Senate declines to override governor’s vetoes
All legislative vetoes made by Gov. Mike Parson will remain in effect, after Senate Appropriations Chair Lincoln Hough declined to act on vetoed items that the Missouri House of Representatives voted to overturn.
The governor's vetoes from the fiscal year 2024's budget subtracted $555.3 million from the legislature's budget, bringing the totals after Parson's actions to $51.8 billion, with $15.2. billion in general revenue.
All budget bills begin in the House, so any line item veto being overridden must be proposed in that chamber. One Senate bill was also vetoed by Parson, but the bill's sponsor declined to act on it.
It takes two-thirds of the legislative body to override one of the governor's vetoes. In the Missouri Senate, that is 23 votes, and in the House, it takes 109 votes.
Members of the House sought to override the governor's veto of $28 million to improve I-44. Although federal funding is coming to fix some parts of the interstate, Rep. Bill Owen, R-Springfield, said there is a need to fix the aging concrete near the city.
“Right in the middle of this whole project is 60-year-old concrete that is going to have to be resurfaced,” Owen said.
The House agreed to override the governor's veto in a vote with 115 in agreement and 33 opposed. Despite this project's impact on Greene County, Hough declined to take up the veto in the Senate.
“When I look at the necessary votes to override the governor being 23 in this chamber, I'm not sure that we'd get there,” the Springfield Republican said.
Although any member of the House can propose that a vetoed bill be overridden, it is the responsibility of the bill's sponsor in the Senate to suggest any action be taken. In his role as Appropriations Chair, Hough is the only senator who could have proposed an override in this chamber.
However, any member of the Senate had the ability to speak on issues, and gubernatorial candidate Sen. Bill Eigel took the opportunity to voice his opposition to the lack of action on overriding the governor's vetoes.
“In spite of all that spending, I feel like there were quite a few priorities that could have absolutely helped everyday folks in the state of Missouri,” Eigel said.
Other vetoes that the House sought to override centered around public safety and increasing the salaries of those responsible for ensuring that safety.
Nine measures related to raising the salaries of the Missouri State Highway Patrol were approved by the House. Budget Chair Cody Smith championed these efforts, pointing to the need to offer salaries capable of attracting qualified candidates to fill open vacancies.
“We've heard stories from across
the state where troopers are being recruited away from the highway patrol, and we see there are vacancies within the ranks,” Smith said.
However, the Missouri Highway Patrol received a salary increase along with other state employees through other legislation that enacted a nearly 9% bump in pay.
“I would probably categorize that as an additional salary increase,” Hough said. “For clarification purposes, (Parson) didn’t veto the entire salary increase.”
Also approved by the House were pay raises for the Missouri Capitol police force and Missouri Task Force One, as well as reenlistment bonuses for the National Guard.
Representatives also approved funding for a police center in the city of St. Louis, pointing to recent lags in response time for emergency services.
Hough feels that legislators should consider the good things passed in the budget rather than focusing on the few items that failed to pass the governor’s desk.
“The more important thing about the budget we passed last year is that there’s a whole lot of good in there,” Hough said. “I think there’s a lot of things, a lot of investments all over the state and in everyone’s district that we can be proud of.”