MoDOT’s oversight commission on thin ice with legislators

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JEFFERSON CITY — Bills and resolutions introduced in the Missouri General Assembly aim to upend a century of the Missouri Department of Transportation’s independent oversight.

MoDOT and Missouri lawmakers bumping heads is not new, but several pieces of legislation are putting the department back in the limelight. Shared concerns among legislators are threefold: transparency, accountability and communication.

The proposals come as a yearslong dispute between the legislature and MoDOT over salary increases granted by the agency was resolved in MoDOT’s favor this week.

The Missouri Supreme Court declined to accept an appeal of a lower court ruling that said the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission can use the State Road Fund for any purpose permitted in the constitution, including pay, even if it exceeds spending amounts approved by legislators.

Senate Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, has proposed a constitutional amendment that would move MoDOT under the purview of the governor rather than the commission. O’Laughlin said a problem is communication between policymakers and MoDOT — specifically the department listening to lawmakers.

“There have been ongoing concerns for years about MoDOT’s lack of responsiveness to both the legislature and the public, particularly in how funding decisions are made,” O’Laughlin said in an email to the Missourian. “This legislation is about ensuring stronger oversight and making sure those responsible for critical infrastructure projects are directly accountable to the people of Missouri.”

Rep. Bennie Cook, R-Houston, filed two bills: House Joint Resolution 32, which is nearly identical to O’Laughlin’s and HJR 83, which would subject the State Road Fund to appropriation by the General Assembly. Legislation authored by Rep. Don Mayhew, R-Crocker, HJR 21, would also give the legislature authority over spending the road fund, which is revenue collected primarily by gasoline taxes.

“That’s why our folks are electing us up here to come and work for them and ensure that these budgets that are sent out to these departments are fiscally sound,” Cook said. “I think we can do a better job with that than what MoDOT has done.”

 

Seeking accountability from MoDOT

MoDOT is funded by taxpayers, meaning it works for the taxpayers just like legislators, Cook said.

MoDOT operates with “very little direct oversight” from elected officials yet manages billions of taxpayer dollars, O’Laughlin said.

“The fact that they do what they darn well please with your tax dollars alarms me just a bit,” Rep. Louis Riggs, R-Hannibal, said.

In a hearing last year, the highways commission opposed a similar bill, HJR 109, citing concerns that partisanship would affect highway construction decisions. The commission was established in 1921 as independent and nonpartisan, with members appointed by the governor and without a majority from any political party.

“HJR 109 would eliminate the constitutional protections that Missouri citizens and road users established, revert highway improvement planning and funding to political exercises, and return Missouri to the 1920s,” the commission wrote in submitted testimony. It declined to comment on the pending legislation.

Ray McCarty, president and CEO of Associated Industries of Missouri, opposed the 2024 bill when representing the Missouri Transportation and Development Council.

“Governors and elected officials should not determine the priority and timing of highway projects,” McCarty wrote in submitted testimony. “The highways exist for the benefit of all Missourians, not just those occupying the governor’s office and a majority of legislative seats at any particular time.”

O’Laughlin said her legislation isn’t about partisanship but accountability.

“Right now, the transportation commission operates with significant independence but without the direct accountability that comes with being a gubernatorial appointee,” she said. “By shifting oversight to the executive branch, we’re ensuring that Missourians have a direct line of accountability when it comes to major transportation decisions.”

The bill sponsored by Riggs is almost identical to one from this session, HJR 45, which proposes dissolving the highways commission and granting authority to MoDOT under the supervision of a director appointed by the governor.

Riggs said his tussle with MoDOT stems from his roots in northeast Missouri, which is the only region of the state with no interstate access. What MoDOT does with its money is of concern to Riggs as his district doesn’t see nearly enough of its benefits.

In Texas County, which Cook represents, Shafer Road maintenance used to be MoDOT’s responsibility until it asked the township and county to take on that duty in the 1960s, he said. Now, the county can’t afford repairs anymore and wants to pass it back.

“MoDOT owns those roads, and they refuse to take care of those roads,” Cook said, as MoDOT has always retained ownership of Shafer Road.

Riggs compared Missouri’s transportation department to Illinois. Missouri’s neighboring state has a department that answers to the governor and the General Assembly, as do most of the states in the Midwest, Riggs said, which makes Missouri an outlier.

A November MoDOT news conference announcing the appointment of Ed Hassinger as the new director focused on efforts to ensure that the department stays accountable to the highways commission and its budget.

Hassinger has been serving as interim director since August, and during his 40-year career he has been MoDOT’s deputy director and chief engineer. O’Laughlin objected at the time that the agency should have looked outside for a new director.

Hassinger voiced enthusiasm toward Gov. Mike Kehoe, who served 4½ years on the highways commission before beginning his stint as governor. The new director said it’s easier that the governor “understands what the commission does and the relationships that we have.”

 

Over a century of authority

Since the dawn of the 20th century, MoDOT has been under the jurisdiction of the State Highway Commission, first known as the “Centennial Road Law.”

While it’s been 104 years since the birth of MoDOT, the system set up back then is “woefully insufficient for the demands of 2025,” Riggs said.

Bad blood has led some Missouri lawmakers such as Riggs to keep a trained eye on MoDOT.

In 2021, the highway commission sued Ken Zellers, acting commissioner of the Office of Administration, when a he refused to pay raises authorized by the commission using money from the State Road Fund. This was to test constitutional language unique to the road fund as the Missouri Constitution states that the money deposited in the fund can be “appropriated without legislative action.”

This move led senators, including O’Laughlin, to demand that Patrick McKenna, former MoDOT director, either resign or be fired. They complained that the director requested more funds from the legislature for the state’s road system, and after receiving authority to fund priority roads and bridges, McKenna diverted the money toward employee pay.

In 2023, a circuit judge determined that the commission could use the Road Fund for pay raises even if lawmakers haven’t appropriated enough money. The Western District Missouri Court of Appeals agreed in 2024. That ruling remains in force after the Supreme Court declined to accept an appeal this week.