JEFFERSON CITY - House Majority Leader Gracia Backer proposed an amendment to the state constitution in December that would take budgeting powers away from the University of Missouri System Board of Curators and radically change the way money is distributed. So how did university administrators react?
Originally, the constitutional amendment proposed by Rep. Gracia Backer would have allowed the legislature to appropriate money directly to colleges, departments and programs at the four-campus university system.
"It's not that simple to say those are my rights as an adoptee child," said Rep. Gracia Backer, D-Fulton. "Because I think you affect the people that love you and raise you and you are affecting the people that biologically born you."
The inquiry into Gracia Backer's son was made after the Fulton Democrat had sponsored legislation to restrict the budget allocation powers of the MU curators.
After its hearing, the House committee approved, 12 to 2, a resolution rejecting salary hikes. Committee Chairman Gracia Backer, D-Callaway County, said the resolution would be debated by the full House today.
If the resolutions do not make it to the floor, the raise will essentially be approved. However, House Majority Leader Gracia Backer, D-New Bloomfield, said she's confident votes will be taken.
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