Legislature to Focus on Budget

The Missouri Legislature is on spring break next week. House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith of southwest Missouri’s Carthage says members will continue working on the state budget when they return from break.

Under Governor Parson’s 34-point-one billion dollar state budget proposal, 14.1 billion would fund Medicaid costs, compared to about 11.5 billion in the current fiscal year. The plan includes a two-percent pay raise on January 1 for Missouri’s roughly 53,000 state workers, and the Department of Corrections workers would be getting an additional pay increase.