House proposes fourth plan for spending MOHELA money

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- House leaders have come up with a fourth plan for spending money from the proposed sale of some of the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority's assets.

New to the latest version is a proposal to spend some of the money for the construction of a women's prison in Chillicothe. Other money would go toward a college building boom, student scholarships and an initiative to attract high-tech businesses to campuses -- all previously proposed by either the governor or lawmakers.

Before announcing the latest plan Thursday, House and Senate leaders and Gov. Matt Blunt each had proposed separate ways to spend $450 million from the possible sale of some of MOHELA's loans.

House Speaker Rod Jetton touted the newest proposal as a compromise that came after discussions with Senate leadership and the governor's office. But it's unclear whether senators and the governor will go along with it.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Chuck Gross, who along with Senate President Pro Tem Michael Gibbons authored one of the alternative plans, said the newest proposal sounds very similar to the one House leaders already had put forward.

"Maybe somewhere there is something in it that is a compromise," said Gross, R-St. Charles.

A Blunt spokesman said the new House plan does not represent a done deal.

"It's not the last piece of it," Jackson said. "There will be more discussions about what the final product will look like."

If lawmakers are going to pass a MOHELA spending bill this session, it must be approved in the next three weeks.

"We're getting down to crunch time, so it's time to get moving," said Jetton, R-Marble Hill.

The newest plan would spend about $347 million on capital improvements at colleges and universities, more than $12 million on an endowed scholarship fund, $15 million on an endowment to attract businesses to campuses and $75 million to pay off some of the debt for the new prison.

It would scrap money the governor had wanted to use for endowed professorships and the Senate had slotted for health care.

The latest House plan devotes more to campus construction than the chamber originally had proposed, and significantly less to scholarships than proposed by either Blunt or the original House plan. The initial House plan also had called for $75 million to pay off general state debt, as opposed to going specifically to the prison debt.

The Senate plan would direct scholarship money to a program designed to get more health care providers to work in underserved parts of the state. It also would fund Federally Qualified Health Centers, which serve people enrolled in the state Medicaid program and without insurance.

Jetton and Gross each said any plan to spend the MOHELA money likely will need to be drafted by negotiators from each body in a conference committee.

"I don't think anybody's under any illusions -- we like our bill, and they like theirs," Jetton said.

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MOHELA plan is HB1022

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Legislature: http://www.moga.mo.gov