JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Sometimes, lawmakers budget money to fund a new building project. Other times, they budget to expand a new program, or offer new funding to schools.

And other times, lawmakers budget to make a statement.

On Tuesday, the Missouri Senate amended the budget bill for the Missouri Department of Public Safety to include $143 for the department to buy a new fax machine.

The amendment, sponsored by Senate Democratic Leader Jolie Justus, came after the department released a letter to the public last week via fax expressing concerns with her signature criminal code reform bill.

Justus has been working on reforms to the state’s 30 year old criminal code for several years now, and said she had not previously heard specific concerns with the bill raised by Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon’s administration.

“I was really sad to see that on Thursday of last week after we passed Senate Bill 591 that the Department of Public Safety sent a fax not to the General Assembly who can actually do something about it, but to but to an outside party telling some of the concerns they have with the criminal code bill,” Justus said. “If these were real concerns, they would have sent it to us.”

Justus added, “I’m frustrated these concerns weren’t brought to me sooner.”

Earlier in the day, she was joined by stakeholders and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Stanley Cox, a Republican, urging the governor to sign the bill. In addition to reorganizing the code, the legislation would create new classes of felonies and misdemeanors, lessen the penalty for first marijuana offenses, and strengthen penalties in child abuse cases.

Despite strong support from Missouri prosecutors and public defenders, the bill has received some public opposition. On Monday, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers penned a letter to Nixon critical of the bill claiming it “may make it difficult for the admissibility of evidence in DWI refusals and other DWI related offenses. As a result, some drunk drivers may find loopholes to avoid justice.”

Nixon, Missouri’s former Attorney General, has previously expressed nonspecific concerns about the size of the bill and the potential for error in many of the technical updates. Nixon will have to take action on the bill before lawmakers end session, meaning they could override his veto.

The Justus amendment for a new fax machine comes as the Senate is debating the entire Fiscal Year 2015 budget. The Senate is expected to send the bills to a conference committee, which is expected to begin meeting later this week.