House members say building bonds may fare better in front of state legislature

Intro:	Missouri lawmakers want to borrow a billion dollars to fix up state buildings, but some say they would rather make that decision themselves than send it to voters.
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Wrap: If passed by voters the proposal would put money towards repairing infrastructure of state mental hospitals, higher education institutions and other state buildings.

But Republican Representative Dave Schatz says that metropolitan voters will have a harder time seeing the benefits of a new bond proposal than the rest of Missouri.

Democratic Rep. Chris Kelly says Missouri voters should have the final say in how their tax money is spent.

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Description: "I'm not ruling anything out but I'm hesitant to incur debt without a vote of the people. You know, this is not the United States government, we try to be a little more fiscally responsible than that."

Kelly says he wants to vote the proposal out of committee by next week.

Reporting from the state capitol, I'm Alex Mallin.

Intro:	Several lawmakers in the state Capitol are worried that a billion-dollar plan to fix up state buildings could face opposition in the state's big cities.
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Wrap: Republican Representative Dave Schatz says that city voters will have a harder time seeing the direct benefits of the construction projects than the rest of Missouri.

He says that's because the plan funds buildings mostly outside of Kansas City and St. Louis, like state mental hospitals and public universities. He says if the legislature can get it through then the public shouldn't have to vote on it.

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Description: "I think it would be much easier to go out and pass this through the General Assembly and to get more buy in in the general assembly than in the public where you have people thinking that "money is not coming in to my area."

Supporters of the measure say they want the plan to go to the House floor by next week.

Reporting from the state capitol, I'm Alex Mallin.