By Kevin Lavery, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – A committee of Missouri lawmakers met Wednesday to discuss ways to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse of state funds.
One issue they discussed is office space that the state leases. Republican state representative Jim Lembke says the state leases some buildings at prices above market rate, adding "we need to move leases that come due out of spaces that are costing us $17, $18, $19 per square foot into a space we can get for $15 a square foot and save the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars."
The leasing issue has some lawmakers wanting to make state contracts more visible to the public. The lawmakers also discussed a measure that would make corporations doing business with the state disclose all of officers and partners.
The state leases some 4,000,000 square feet of office space.