Missouri lawmakers race to pass budget as state faces looming revenue shortfall

Jack Harvel, The Kansas City Star on May 5, 2026

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Missouri lawmakers raced to fund key government services this week as they prepare to pass a state budget that slashes more spending than Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe recommended.

Missouri lawmakers, facing a more grim financial reality this year, are required to pass a budget for the next fiscal year by 6 p.m. Friday. On Monday, a committee of state representatives and senators hashed out differences between the proposed $52.4 billion House budget and the $50.8 billion Senate budget.

As of Monday, the proposed spending plans include funding for the Jackson County Sports Complex Authority, improvements at the National World War I Museum and Memorial and the American Jazz Museum.

In Kehoe’s State of the State address in January, he asked for $54.5 billion in total spending. Even if the state opted for the Senate’s trimmer budget, officials will likely have to dip into dwindling budget surpluses to fund basic government services next year.

Lawmakers are expected to take a vote on the budget on Wednesday, ahead of Friday’s constitutionally required deadline. Failure to pass a budget by that date would be a legislative disaster, forcing lawmakers into a special session.

The budget is trimmed as Missouri has chewed through surpluses built over years of federal pandemic aid. Last Summer, Kehoe cut $511 million from the budget approved by lawmakers.

“I think we’re entering some tough budget times. I think we’re going to see some more difficult times and at times, hard decisions have to be made,” said Rep. Dirk Deaton, a Seneca Republican who chairs the House’s budget-writing committee, on Monday in response to a funding cut for a National Alliance on Mental Illness program.

The proposed budget’s $15 billion general fund is where lawmakers have the most discretion to divvy up to different sources. Revenue in that fund is largely made up of income taxes and sales taxes.

Another $11 billion is taken from state taxes and fees and earmarked for specific purposes, like the use of gasoline taxes for road maintenance. The state also takes in about $24 billion from the federal government for specific programs and services.

The state’s biggest spend, public education, is frozen at the same levels approved for last year at $4.3 billion. The top-ranking Democrat on the House budget-writing committee on Monday chided Republicans for “short changing” public schools.

“If we wanted to, we could walk out of the room today with only a roughly $3 to $5 million shortfall in our foundation formula,” Rep. Betsy Fogle, a Springfield Democrat, said in the hearing, challenging her Republican colleagues to spend more on schools.

The state budget funds the full scope of state services, including schools, transportation, health, economic development and public safety.