Tagged: gov. jay nixon

Proponents of a Medicaid expansion will get their say at the Missouri Capitol — even if they don't get their way.

A House committee is scheduled to hear testimony Monday on a Democratic proposal to expand eligibility for the Medicaid health care program to an estimated 260,000 additional lower-income adults. The plan has the support of Gov. Jay Nixon and is called for by President Barack Obama's health care law.

But the Republican-led Legislature has generally opposed the Medicaid expansion.

Cities and counties would be able to resume collecting taxes on cars that were not purchased at Missouri dealers under a bill passed by the Senate.

The Senate voted 28-0 to send the bill to the House on Monday.

A Missouri Supreme Court decision last year has prohibited local governments from collecting sales taxes on cars bought from out-of-state dealers or from a private sale between Missouri residents.

Lawmakers in the Missouri House and Senate continue to grill members of Governor Jay Nixon’s (D) administration as to why it was necessary to spend $5.6 million on a new airplane.

Colonel Ron Replogle of the Missouri State Highway Patrol told Senate budget writers on Wednesday that he made the call to buy the King Air 250.

Gov. Jay Nixon's plan to expand Medicaid health care coverage in Missouri has encountered a new wrinkle of opposition from some lawmakers.

Members of the Senate Appropriations Committee raised concerns Monday that the Medicaid expansion could hurt the state's credit rating.

Missouri mental health officials are hoping a possible state bonding package could permit construction of a new facility at the Fulton State Hospital.

The hospital is Missouri's only maximum- and intermediate-security psychiatric hospital and is the oldest public mental health facility west of the Mississippi River. The Department of Mental Health is proposing a new 300-bed, high-security facility that would cost about $211 million.