FULTON, Mo. – Paint is chipping off the walls and mold is growing in the ceiling of the 160 year old state hospital in Fulton.
As lawmakers considered a bonding package for state buildings and the Fulton hospital earlier this year, they approved some $13 million in funds to help the state design and plan repairs to the aged facility, but those funds were withheld by Gov. Jay Nixon as part of $400 million in restrictions he announced this summer citing the potential impact of the GOP-backed income tax cut bill.
“Anyone who walks the halls can see this facility is need of repair,” he said. “We have a unique opportunity to make smart investments… They simply will not be possible if HB 253 becomes law.”
Nixon used the stop to highlight his concern that the cost of bonds may go up if a series of financial events following a legislative veto override were to go into effect, particularly the passage of the federal Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013 and its potential costs and the possible effects on the state’s credit rating.
“You’re either for Fulton hospital or you’re for House BIll 253,” Nixon said, echoing similar rhetoric from earlier in the day when he told educators that lawmakers that the bill offered a similar choice for education.
Critics of Nixon’s veto have contended that the specific series of events that would have to happen for the governor’s view of the impact to go into effect is unlikely — particularly the U.S. House of Representatives passing the Marketplace Fairness Act.
In response, Nixon noted that it received bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate – from both Democrat Claire McCaskill and Repulbican Roy Blunt (who co-sponsored the bill) – so he feels there is “clearly … writing on the wall.”
“That kind of overwhelming bipartisan support doesn’t happen that often in Washington, D.C.,” he said. “I don’t get the luxary of saying what percent of chance there is to pass it,” he added, noting that even the possibility should be worrisome to the state’s coffers.
On Tuesday, House Speaker Tim Jones publicly said that he believed it to be unlikely that his caucus would override Nixon’s veto. On Twitter, the Missouri Republican Party said that “Instead of leading,” Nixon “has wasted the summer complaining about a tax cut bill” and called on him to lay out his own “plan for taxation of Missourians.”