Lawmakers Consider Using 'Rainy Day Fund' for Disaster Recovery

Lawmakers are grappling with whether to tap into a state reserve fund to help pay for recovery efforts for areas of Missouri hard hit by natural disasters.

Since the beginning of the year, Missouri has been struck by a number of costly natural disasters. In spring, a tornado ripped through northern St. Louis County and heavily damaged Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. The detonation of a southeast Missouri levee destroyed thousands of acres of farmland. And a massive tornado destroyed much of Joplin.

In addition to a tornado that hit Sedalia earlier this year, there are also concerns about flooding in northwest Missouri.

These disasters have prompted some lawmakers to discuss tapping into the “Rainy Day Fund.” That pot of money is a reserve that can only be used if two-thirds of state lawmakers vote to tap it. And any money must be paid back within three years.

House Speaker Steve Tilley, R-Perryville, told the Joplin Globe earlier this month that tapping into the fund should be on the table. He told the newspaper “if this doesn’t qualify, I don’t know what does.”

At a press conference in St. Louis on Tuesday, Gov. Jay Nixon said the state is still going through what the costs are for numerous natural disasters in Joplin, Sedalia, St. Louis County, southeast Missouri and northwest Missouri.

“I think we need to go a little bit longer in the coming weeks before we get to various hard numbers,” Nixon said. “Especially the Joplin piece. 6,953 house gone. Schools gone. Businesses gone. Thousands of cars gone. We’ve got a number of issues that we’ve still got to work out. We’ll look at the most effective way to expend taxpayer resources to do this, whichever method of funding it is.”

“It’s been our year,” Nixon said, referring to the multitude of disasters that have struck the state. “We will look at all of these … we’ll visit with legislative leaders. If we think the best thing financially to do is to take that avenue, we’ll certainly look at it. But at this particular point, we’re still in the process of adding up what the ultimate costs will be.”

Rep. Marsha Haefner, R-Oakville, said a conclusion hasn’t been reached about where money will come from for recovery efforts in Joplin.

“There have been some suggestions about the Rainy Day Fund, others have suggested that we need to look at other sources and still keep that in reserve,” Haefner said. “Because we don’t know what next year is going to bring.”

What may have to be done, Haefner said, is for lawmakers to take a closer look at whether some state governmental programs are necessary.

“I think what we may have to do is take a further step back and define the fundamental purpose of government—what we need to be doing for the citizens and move forward from there as to how we spend our money,” Haefner said. “I think a lot of the money we spent right now may not fall into the parameters of what government should be doing.”

Nixon already withheld money budgeted for higher education institutions and K-12 transportation to help pay costs related to the Joplin tornado. Haefner said while “withholding is a start,” there may be more to be done.

“This is something unlike anything we’ve seen before in Missouri,” Haefner said. “And if we’re still going to be committed to having a good education system and … social services and corrections and other big ticket items, we just really for the long haul need to take a step back and say ‘well, how do we get through this?’ And what can we do better? What can we eliminate?”

Nixon was also asked on Tuesday whether a special session of the General Assembly would be necessary to deal with issues brought about because of the natural disaster. Nixon said “we’re certainly not at that point yet.”

“I’ve said all along that special sessions have to [have] significant need [and] complete consensus, so you don’t just bring people back to talk about things, you’ve brought people back to do things,” Nixon said.