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Missouri Senate to consider COVID-19 funding bill

A delayed Missouri Senate special session resumes this week, lawmakers to debate a $1.3 billion COVID-19 spending bill which received House approval last month. The same bill will now be voted on in a full senate session on Wednesday.

Originally put on hold due to COVID-19 case outbreaks, debate on a $1.3 billion COVID-19 spending bill resumes this week in the Missouri Senate.

The Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday, and the full Senate will spend Wednesday debating the spending bill as the special session called by Gov. Mike Parson resumes after a delay caused by COVID-19 cases among Senate Republicans members and staff. 

While some foes of the liability protection bill have argued it should wait until the next regular session begins in January, “nothing is off the table,” Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden said.

The special session began Nov. 5. The Missouri House on Nov. 10 passed the spending bill that would provide $752 million in new spending authority for federal CARES Act funding, $18.7 million for local agencies working to prevent homelessness and $96 million in child support payments.

The CARES Act funds, from a bill approved in March by Congress, must be spent by Dec. 30. The appropriation includes enough authority to spend money currently held by the state treasury, funds expected from federal matches to state emergency spending and money expected from counties unable to use their funds by the deadline.

The child support appropriation is needed to deliver money captured by the state from CARES Act stimulus funds, unemployment supplements and tax refunds to custodial parents. 

The regular appropriation did not anticipate the extra funds. In a House Budget Committee hearing, Budget Director Dan Haug said the state will not be able to distribute child support funds after the end of the month without the supplemental spending bill.