JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri House has sent a constitutional amendment to the Senate that would roll back the governor’s ability to withhold money in the budget.

The Missouri Constitution currently allows the governor to “control the rate” of expenditures and reduce them when revenues fall short of what appropriators had previously estimated. Richardson’s bill would allow the governor to withhold funds if revenue falls short, but would weaken the power otherwise.

“Nothing in HJR 72 prohibits, prevents, or restricts the governor’s ability to withhold money when there is a financial justification for doing so,” Rep. Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, said during floor debate. “What it does do is allows the legislature to have a role in saying when the governor has overstepped those boundaries.”

Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, has been critical of Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon’s budgetary practices in the past, but he said on Thursday he disagrees with Richardson’s approach.

“This is not something — this frustration between the legislature — is not something that’s unique to this particular governor or General Assembly,” he said. “It’s been an issue going back with a number of governors. What is really at issue here is trying to find that place where we have an appropriate balance of power.”

The Missouri Supreme Court has upheld the gubernatorial withholding authority before – as recently as 2011, when Republican State Auditor Tom Schweich tried to sue Nixon over the issue following the spending around the Joplin tornado.