House does not override any vetoes; aims for new plan to help disabled, elderly

The Missouri legislature did not act to override any of Governor Eric Greitens’ (R) vetoes of its legislation in the veto session that began Wednesday at noon.

The House was asked to consider overriding one veto; that of House Committee Bill 3.  That bill would have reduced cuts to reimbursement rates for nursing homes and in-home care providers by taking $35-million from surpluses in multiple state funds.  Governor Greitens called the proposal unconstitutional and a one-time fix to a long-term issue.

House and Senate leadership confirmed Wednesday those chambers would work together to create within three weeks a new funding solution to preserve care for the more than 8,000 Missourians who would be impacted by those cuts.

The House voted not to overturn that veto, 49-106, with most Republicans voting to sustain.

Kirkwood Democrat Deb Lavender was the chief architect of the idea of a “fund sweep,” as called for by HCB 3.  She made the motion to overturn the veto.

“With the unnecessary veto of House Committee Bill 3, the governor took away independence from these 8,000 individuals, stripped $34.5-million out of our local economies, and threatened the care provided by our nursing homes to our elderly,” said Lavender.  “By the stroke of his pen the governor ignored a hard-found, bipartisan compromise intended to ensure that the disabled and elderly individuals continue to get the care they need.”

House Republicans said voting to override the veto wouldn’t accomplish anything because the wording of HCB 3 gives the Greitens’ administration the option of sweeping those funds, so he could still elect not to do it even if the bill were passed.

House Budget Committee Chairman Scott Fitzpatrick (R-Shell Knob) said the House should instead focus on the effort to create a new, long-term plan to maintain services to those 8,000 Missourians.

“Do I think that it’s possible to get to a place where we can put something on the table that can pass?  I think it’s absolutely possible,” said Fitzpatrick, who was asked along with Senator Mike Cunningham to work with their colleagues to develop a plan.

If they are successful, the legislature would next be asked to consider voting to call itself into special session to consider that plan.  That would require approval by at least three-fourths of the legislators in each chamber.

Democrats were not convinced that the answer is to wait for a new plan to be developed.

“We’ve had all summer to work on this and no one even saw that it was important enough to pull together,” said House Democrat leader Gail McCann Beatty (Kansas City).

The House adjourned with no motions having been made to consider overrides on any other vetoes.  The Missouri Senate did not send the House any veto overrides to consider.