Friday deadline looms for Missouri lawmakers to decide fate of nearly $50 billion state budget

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KY3) - Missouri lawmakers must decide how to spend nearly $50 billion by Friday.

Even with slower-growing revenue this year, they’re adding more to the state budget. A panel of lawmakers put together to compromise on the budget is approving hundreds of millions more than what the governor recommended. Most of that goes toward education, $500 million for public schools and $50 million for private school scholarships.

The committee is meeting Thursday evening to discuss and debate what should be in the final version of the budget. After they get through it, both chambers have to vote and pass identical bills. Then it goes to the governor’s desk. The governor can veto line items in the budget and approve the rest.

If lawmakers do not meet the constitutional deadline for the budget tomorrow, a special session will have to be called. This has only happened twice before.

Missouri’s budget analysts predict $13.35 billion in general revenue for this fiscal year’s state budget, a 0.6% decline from last year’s general revenue. General revenue is the money left to be spent; more money has already been allocated to specific state departments.

Despite some extra spending, State Senate Budget Chair Lincoln Hough, a Republican senator from Springfield, is still confident they’ll leave about $1 billion on the bottom line. While State Senator Hough said he’s spoken with Gov. Mike Kehoe about the budget several times, he does not know if the governor will veto some of the added funding.

“I haven’t specifically asked, ‘Hey, where’s your red veto pen? How’s it looking? How much ink do you have in there? ” said State Senator Hough.

Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers, like Sen. Brian Williams from St. Louis County, are happy to see many of their priorities included in the budget.

“I feel very confident that we will not only be able to balance a budget here at the state level, but we’ll also be able to fund important services,” Williams said.

Lawmakers worked with slightly less this year since one-time federal grants from the pandemic are running out, and state income tax cuts passed in 2022 are slowing state revenue.

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