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This week…

The Missouri General Assembly had a short week this week, with the observance of Martin Luther King Day on Monday. Starting on Tuesday, both the Missouri House and Missouri Senate held hearings on several issues including funding for charter schools, recall procedures for school board members, financial aid, reforms to the initiative petition process, redistricting and funding priorities for FY23.

The Missouri House of Representatives passed their redistricting plan, which will make some changes to where the boundary lines are drawn for the eight congressional seats. After much debate, including other proposals, the House passed a 6-2 map. The emergency clause measure failed in the House, so the redistricting bill will be sent over to the Senate and is expected to be taken up in committee next week.

Governor Mike Parson delivered his annual State of the State Address on Wednesday to the Missouri General Assembly. Governor Parson spoke on his budgetary priorities for the upcoming year along with his goals of spending federal aid. He proposed several key investments, including investments in higher education, recognizing the critical role that the �Ͼ�Ʒ�� System plays in the success of the state.

Capital Improvement Projects

Governor Mike Parson in his State of the State Address proposed $475 million to fund 50% of each institution’s top capital improvement project.  Please see the list of the �Ͼ�Ʒ�� Systems capital improvement projects below.

• �Ͼ�Ʒ��, Mizzou Forward Radiopharmaceutical Center 
  • To expand innovations with radiopharmaceuticals by investing in MizzouForward, NextGen Precision Health and the MU Research Reactor. These investments will establish new facilities to grow research in nuclear medicine, artificial intelligence and advanced materials.
  • $115 million request to match $243 million from MU. 
  • The Governor’s recommendation was $104,500,000 million dollars
• �Ͼ�Ʒ�� Kansas City, Health Sciences District Development
  • To increase its primary care physician graduates by 25% and address the state’s rural physician shortage with its Health Sciences District development project. The project will also update the dental clinic, the only public dental school in MO, KS and AR.
  • $50 million request to match $50 million from UMKC
  • The Governor’s recommendation was $40,000,000 million dollars
• �Ͼ�Ʒ�� Science and Technology, Missouri Protoplex
  • To develop the Missouri Protoplex Facility, which will be a hub for manufacturing in Missouri with innovations that will create and sustain manufacturing jobs throughout the state. Manufacturing accounts for 12% of GDP in Missouri.
  • $50 million request to match $50 million from S&T
  • The Governor’s recommendation was $41,250,000 million dollars 
• �Ͼ�Ʒ�� St. Louis, building the campus of the future for academic and workforce excellence
  • Investment in a business and workforce development district will consolidate academic programs with student amenities and academic supports and will also go toward renovations and demolitions that will create a vibrant university producing a diverse workforce.
  • $50 million request to match $50 million from UMSL
  • The Governor’s recommendation was $40,000,000 million dollars

CORE Funding Increase

Governor Parson has proposed a 5.4% increase in core higher education funding. The �Ͼ�Ʒ�� System will get $23,308,982 million dollars.

 

State Government Updates

Governor Mike Parson

State of the State Address

Governor Parson gave his State of the State Address on January 19, 2022. He highlighted his legislative and budget priorities for the upcoming year along with his goals for spending federal aid. With a large surplus this year in the general revenue, there are a lot of potential funding opportunities to help Missourians. Key highlights from his speech are included below, please note that these are proposals from the Governor and do not reflect passed measures by the legislature. 

Education

• Missouri Fast Track Program to be permanently established
• $31 million for colleges and universities through MoExcels
• Fully funding the Foundation Formula and raising starting pay for Missouri teachers to $38,000 per year.
• $475 million to fund 50% of each institution’s top capital improvement project.  
• 5.4% increase in core higher education funding
• Pay increase for state employees

Broadband

• $400 million toward broadband expansion projects statewide

Agriculture

• $10 million to expand agriculture innovation and workforce programs

Health Care

• $34 million to increase telehealth and telemedicine services in rural communities and the construction of a new multi-agency health lab to increase cross-collaboration.

Legislative Priorities

• Establish a Cash Operating Expense Fund that sets aside 2.5 percent of general revenue to be used when revenues fall instead of imposing budget cuts or to be used during emergencies. 

President Choi’s response to Governor Parson’s State of the State address can be found here.

Missouri Department of Economic Development

This week, the Missouri Department of Economic Development, named BJ Tanksley as the new Director for the Office of Broadband Development. This position leads the state’s efforts to expanding high-speed internet access across the state of Missouri.

 

Missouri House of Representatives

Redistricting

The House of Representatives passed the congressional map (HB2117) that was introduced by Representative Dan Shaul, who chairs the House Special Committee on Redistricting. The proposal keeps Missouri as a 6-2 split, with some changes regarding where the boundary lines for the eight congressional seats are drawn. However, a vote on the emergency clause failed, which means the map will not be able to take immediate effect. It now moves to the Senate, where they may make changes and will need to place an emergency clause on the bill. Senator Mike Bernskoetter is the Senate handler for the bill.  

House Subcommittee on Appropriations – Education

This week President Choi testified on January 20, 2022, in front of the House Subcommittee on Appropriations, Education. His remarks can be found below:

• Chairman Black, Vice Chair Shields, Rep. Burnett and committee members
• Let me begin by thanking you for your strong support of public higher education
• Because of your support, we can educate students for the workforce, perform meaningful research and create economic impact in the state.
• Specifically, we are grateful for your robust backing of the expanding research enterprise occurring across our four universities.
• This support is evident in the ask this past fall for our key capital projects that could advance faster with state/federal funding we would match.
• This past year, even given its uncertainty, our momentum has not slowed.
• In early February we will release an economic impact study showing a substantial increase in our impact across the state
  • Our grads earn, on average, $11k more per year than graduates from other institutions.
  • With nearly 60% of our alumni living and working in Missouri, our yearly economic impact just in alumni spending is an estimated $52.5 billion.
• More and more companies are seeking our medical and research experts as partners to pioneer new tools, including a better way for doctors to collaborate when treating cancer patients.
• More pharmaceutical companies are contacting MU to help produce life-saving cancer therapies using medical isotypes produced at the MU Research Reactor.
• State investments and private donations have been key to successful launches of several priority projects at all of our universities:
  • In November, UMSL completed phase 1 of its nursing simulation expansion.  The 2nd phase has begun with funding through MoExcels and will increase nursing grads by 20%.
  • In early October, UMKC opened its $32M high-tech Plaster research center. The center houses 11 state-of-the-art labs where engineering students can build prototypes and use high-performance computing and analytics equipment.
  • A few weeks later, at MU, NIH Director Francis Collins came to Columbia to usher in the opening of the $221M Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health building and its associated initiative, a statewide program headquartered at MU, which will catalyze our research breakthroughs. 
  • And S&T is continuing to develop its Kummer Institute to expand STEM education and research, as well as drive economic development. Private funds from the Kummer institute matched this year’s state investment to support S&T’s manufacturing initiative. In addition, this fall, scholarships brought in 460 1st-year students to S&T.

Student success

• 3 straight years of enrollment increases
• Maintaining highest grad rates in our history
• Ongoing improvement in 2022 USNWR rankings
  • MU:
    • No. 1 for Best Value School among public universities in neighboring states.
    • No. 12 best value in nation, jumping 13 spots.
    • No. 73 best colleges for veterans, also a jump of 13 spots.
      • The pro-bono veterans law clinic has secured $7M in compensation for veterans and their families since it started in 2014.
      • They take the veterans through the benefits process, including securing physicians to help review medical records to make sure they qualify.
  • UMSL:
    • Risen 42 places in rankings in two years, 6th highest improvement rate in the nation.

Research impact

As Missouri’s only public research university, in FY21 UM universities performed $430M in R&D in a variety of fields. 

The impact is vast:

• At S&T, Professor Jenny Liu and her team are part of a $10M national research effort to develop more durable road asphalt out of recyclables.
• UMSL is one of only four universities in the country to have an educational partnership agreement with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.  Together, they develop courses for kindergarteners through college students, capitalizing on the new NGA West campus opening in 2025.
• At UMKC, Professor Jannette Berkley-Patton, led a team through a $5M grant to address COVID-related health inequities in places with the highest infection rates.
• And two weeks ago, research that started at MU in the early 2000s “crossed the Rubicon,” one surgeon told the Wall Street Journal, when a pig heart was successfully transplanted.  
  • This breakthrough could now offer hope to more than 100K on national transplant lists.
• Our research also directly supports Missouri’s agriculture producers:
  • With soybeans, MO’s top crop, our researchers figured out how to increase the heart-healthy element in soybean oil from 20 to 80 %.  Known as high-oleic acid, or Soyleic, this value-added product is now in high demand and commercialized across the globe.
  • Our Show-Me Select Replacement heifer program is a national model for how to enhance a state’s beef industry by maximizing a herd’s genetic potential, and ultimately increasing profits.  900 Missouri farms are enrolled in it.
• We are recruiting additional world-class researchers now through Mizzou Forward and UMKC Forward.
• Our research, particularly through programs like the NextGen initiative, is how we make what we’re doing matter to all Missourians.
• Our Extension network helps deploy our many findings including clinical care and NextGen discoveries to all parts of Missouri