Dirk Deaton

House Speaker Jon Patterson’s no vote caught the attention of detractors of the redrawn congressional map.

The GOP-dominated Missouri House easily passed legislation Monday night to redraw the state’s congressional districts.

The proposed map could be open to a referendum that could prevent the measure from going into effect.

The bills now go to Gov. Mike Kehoe, who is expected to sign all of them.

The Missouri House declined to pass one budget bill that contained hundreds of millions of dollars for capital improvement projects across the state.

The budget includes 1% raises for state employees for every two years on the job up to 10 years, as well as $375 million for school transportation.

The largest point of consternation between Democrats and Republicans on this year’s budget is education funding.

The money will fund the state government through the end of the current fiscal year. The legislature is required to pass a full budget for the next fiscal year before the legislative session ends.

Lawmakers had until 6 p.m. Friday to pass the budget. The final product is roughly $1 billion less than Gov. Mike Parson proposed.

Included in the budget is a 3.2% pay increase for state workers, money to fully fund school transportation and funds to improve Interstate 44. However, the House version of the budget is about $2 billion less than Gov. Mike Parson requested for the upcoming fiscal year.