Friday, May 12, 2006
Contact: Spence Jackson, 573-751-0290
Blunt Says Productive Legislative Session will Benefit Missouri Children, Families and Jobs
JEFFERSON CITY–Gov. Matt Blunt thanked the Missouri General Assembly today for passing his key agenda items that will benefit public schools, protect children and help diversify Missouri’s surging economy.
For the second year in a row, Blunt delivered on a campaign pledge to annually increase funding for public schools with a budget on his desk that allocates $173.4 million for classrooms. Colleges and universities were also winners in Blunt’s budget securing the governor’s two percent increase in state funds marking the first significant increase in years.
Blunt was also successful in getting the General Assembly to answer his call to enact a “Jessica’s Law” in Missouri to ensure sexual predators receive tough mandatory sentences for crimes committed against children.
Another Blunt campaign pledge delivered was passage of a 10 percent ethanol requirement for gasoline sold in Missouri. This legislation is a win-win for Missouri’s economy and environment with the potential to generate new jobs and economic resources and a new fuel standard that will improve air quality throughout the state.
On the heels of a terrible U.S. Supreme Court decision that favored tax-grabbing government and corporate interests over the rights of responsible private property owners, Blunt convened an eminent domain task force that recommended changes in state law to protect Missourians from being similarly affected. The General Assembly responded to Blunt’s call by strengthening Missouri’s eminent domain laws to protect property owners and enable local governments to take action to clean up dangerous areas.
“We have made remarkable progress during the last two sessions to end the tax and spend ways of the past and the mentality that the education of our children is secondary to feeding a bloated bureaucracy,” Blunt said. “I am proud of the work the members of this General Assembly and my administration have accomplished to put Missouri’s working families and creation of better opportunities for all our state’s citizens at the forefront of their government’s agenda.”
Blunt will sign these priority bills into law. Last week he announced his intention to pursue his landmark Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative, which will enhance educational and employment opportunities for young Missourians and will benefit their colleges and universities tremendously for generations to come.
Blunt secured a $731 million funding increase for Medicaid, a program that comprises 29 percent of the total state budget. He was also successful in reducing the number of full-time state employees to below 60,000 for the first time in eight years.
Blunt said he was pleased by the passage of a bill that will make health insurance more affordable for small businesses. This legislation will allow small and large employers to pool together through their trade associations to purchase health insurance as a single entity.
Listen to Press Conference Audio
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