No more Missouri manuals: Budget cuts move it back online
JEFFERSON CITY • For the second time in seven years, Missouri is getting out of the book publishing business.
As part of a $250 million cut to the budget announced on June 30, Gov. Eric Greitens eliminated $75,000 in funding for a print version of the state’s official manual, saying the information it contains is already available online.
Known as the “blue book,” the hardbound publication has been nearly continuously printed since the late 1800s. It contains the latest information on the state’s laws, the salaries of nearly all government employees and biographical updates on top Missouri elected officials.
While the 1,500-page book has traditionally been bound in a blue cover, there have been exceptions. In 1969, Secretary of State James C. Kirkpatrick switched the color to green in homage to his Irish lineage. The 1976 version was red, white and blue in recognition of the nation’s bicentennial. In 1993, the state’s first female secretary of state, Judy Moriarty, printed it within a pink cover.
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