Missouri House backs proposal to restore in-home care cuts

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri House members approved a new solution Thursday to avoid budgeted cuts to in-home care and nursing services that would affect about 8,300 seniors and disabled residents.

The measure, which passed with bipartisan support, depends on state revenue exceeding projections during the current fiscal year. If that happens, part of that excess revenue would be used to avoid cuts in next year's budget affecting Medicaid services for those people.

The House proposal is an alternative to a compromise adopted in the Senate that would take money out of numerous dedicated funds to cover the costs of the Medicaid program. The House plan now goes to the Senate for consideration.

In the Senate proposal, the state's administration commissioner would take $35.4 million from dedicated funds to maintain the current level of in-home and nursing services for seniors and disabled people.

But House Budget chairman Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick said the fund sweep constituted "stealing" from other funds and took spending power away from the House and Senate.

Fitzpatrick said revenue would need to exceed projections by at least 3.44 percent if the cuts are to be restored. Revenue is on pace to slightly exceed that threshold, he said.

"If we were to pass (the Senate proposal), it would be like the General Assembly agreeing that the executive branch has the authority to move money without an appropriation," Fitzpatrick said. "I think that what we've provided here is an opportunity for these services to be funded without unbalancing the budget."

The House proposal also allows the governor to recommend transferring money from dedicated funds to general revenue as part of a mid-year budget adjustment in 2018. The Legislature then would have to approve the changes.

The House originally had proposed ending a tax credit for disabled home renters, but that bill faced a filibuster in the Senate. House Representatives unveiled their alternative just over a day before the end of the spring legislative session.

The cuts come amid a revenue shortfall from initial projections that prompted Gov. Eric Greitens and former Gov. Jay Nixon to slash nearly $350 million from the current budget. The projections later were revised, and the state is currently exceeding revised expectations.

Greitens originally proposed slashing funding for the in-home and nursing-care program by roughly $52 million. He later backtracked.