Please contact your Missouri Senator and Representative this week and ask them to support the Rock Island Trail funding in HB 6. A $2.9 million in federal grant has been approved for the Rock Island Trail. However, the grant must be appropriated by the Missouri legislature. The governor requested the appropriation, the Missouri House approved it, but the Missouri Senate, led by Springfield Senator Lincoln Hough, zeroed out the funding.
If the $2.9 million in federal funding is not allocated by the legislature, it cannot be spent elsewhere. It will simply be returned to the federal government and lost to Missouri.
We have one last chance to restore the funding. When HB 6 goes to Conference Committee, the committee can decide to follow the House version (which includes the $2.9 million funding) or the Senate version (which zeroes out the funding).
This decision will be made by Friday, May 5th, 5pm - when all 2024 budget bills must be complete.
