Missouri House Budget Committee has approved full Funding for the Rock Island Trail! [2nd Update 31 March]

SECOND UPDATE 31 MARCH 2022: HB 3020 passed the House Budget Committee today with the full $69 million governor's recommendation for the Rock Island Trail intact.

HOORAY!  Huge thanks to Committee leadership and members - and each and every one of you who took the time to contact Budget Committee members and leadership.

All the budget bills now go to the floor of the House.  The debate and vote on those bills is currently scheduled for Tuesday, April 5th.

On the floor of the House, the danger is a floor amendment to reduce or eliminate funding.  Such an amendment can be introduced by any of the 163 representatives - so it is hard to predict whether or not an amendment will be introduced and then whether House leadership will give such an amendment time on the floor for debate and a vote.

After the vote Tuesday and some further procedural votes, the bills are sent to the Missouri Senate for their consideration.

How you can help now:

  • Contact YOUR OWN Missouri Representative and Senator before Tuesday and ask them to support Gov. Parson's full budget recommendation for the Rock Island Trail. Instructions here.
     
  • A little thanks to House Budget Committee leadership and members goes a long way - especially if you previously wrote to them and they responded. House Budget committee Contact list here.
    • Budget Committee Chair Cody Smith's support was extremely important - he restored the $29 million in funding the subcommittee had removed, and supported the project all the way through
       
    • Rep. Don Mayhew of Crocker spoke in support of the Rock Island Trail in the Committee hearing.

 

UPDATE 29 March 2022: Chairman Smith's budget recommendations for the Rock Island Trail were very, very positive - he recommended the full $69 million funding, and additionally found about $4.5 million more funding (!).

Now House Budget Committee members have the opportunity to offer amendments to the budget - due by Wednesday, March 30th - and then those amendments will be considered in the Committee hearing scheduled for Thursday, March 31st.

That hearing will likely run until late Thursday and Friday, and possibly even into next week.

The proposed amendments could include cuts to Rock Island Trail funding or other such changes.  Whether any proposed cuts are implemented will then be up to a vote of the entire Committee.

For those reasons:

Governor Parson requested $69 million of federal ARPA funding to build the vast majority of the new Rock Island Trail State Park - all of the "hard parts" of the route from Beaufort to Eldon, including the major bridges and tunnels. 

The Rock Island Trail will combine with the Katy Trail and other interconnected trails to create a 500+ mile cross-state trail system across Missouri

There is a lot of support for full funding in the Missouri House. 

But one key subcommittee recommended cutting that funding to just $40 million - a cut that will delay completion of the Rock Island Trail for years or decades.

Background

The $69 million appropriation for the Rock Island Trail proposed by Governor Parson is enough to build the major part - and the most difficult and costly sections - of the 144-mile Rock Island Trail section between Windsor and Washington, MO.  This is the Rock Island Trail section that Missouri State Parks finally accepted into the Missouri State Parks system last December.

The $69 million is federal funding that the state has received as part of the federal stimulus funding package - federal ARPA funding.  So it is money the state must spend within the next few years or it will be lost. 

This is the opportunity of a lifetime to get the Rock Island Trail/Katy Trail loop system - over 500 miles of interconnected trail all across Missouri - actually built and open.

The $69 million is not enough to build the entire 144-mile rail trail.  But it is enough to do the hardest and most expensive portions - including the three major tunnels and two major bridges.  Missouri State Parks believes that the $69 million is enough to complete the easternmost portion of the trail, from Eldon to Beaufort. 

With that most difficult portion complete, the remainder can be completed over time using regular funding sources.

Missouri House Budget Committee Contact Information

[[UPDATE 31 MARCH: The contacts to the Committee were successful - they have passed the budget with the full amount recommended by Gov. Parson for the Rock Island Trail. At this point, a little thanks can go a long way - if you could spend the time to write a note of thanks to Committee leadership or a member from your area.]]

You can find contact information for all House Budget Committee members on the Missouri House web site.

The House Budget web portal has all the information you need about the Missouri budget and budget process - hearings, amendments, and more.

Thank you!

Thank you!  The work to support the acceptance of the Rock Island Trail byu Missouri State Parks and now funding to complete much of the trail has been and amazing cooperative effort among dozens of allied organizations across Missouri and many thousands of individual Missourians. Please support all of these groups - but above all, do not forget Missouri Rock Island Trail, Inc, the alliance of local supporters and communities along the trail.

When people and organizations from all across Missouri work together to support the projects we all benefit from and enjoy, and to contact our elected officials and state leaders, it really makes a difference!

 

 

One of the top goals of MoBikeFed's Vision for Bicycling and Walking in Missouri is building a world-class bicycle and pedestrian transportation system in Missouri.  The addition of the Rock Island Trail to Missouri's statewide trail system is the biggest single advance we have seen in Missouri in over 20 years.

Your membership and generous financial contributions help turn our Vision into reality--building the statewide public support for bicycling, walking, and trails that make major advances like the Rock Island Trail possible.

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