Missouri lawmakers approve $51.7B budget amid delays, criticism of ‘secretive’ process

Missouri lawmakers approved a $51.7 billion budget just hours before the Friday deadline, narrowly avoiding what could have been a legislative disaster.

The proposed spending plan includes 3.2% raises for state employees, millions for highway projects, including $53 million near Kansas City, and $17.5 million to prepare for the 2026 World Cup in Kansas City.

It also includes controversial language aimed at preventing municipalities from becoming “sanctuary cities” as Republicans seize on comments from Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas.

The budget for the next fiscal year, which takes effect July 1, will now head to Republican Gov. Mike Parson’s desk. Parson can veto items in the budget, which is roughly $1 billion less than the budget he proposed in January.

“It’s been an odd year but it’s been a good year and I think the end product is something we can all be proud of,” Sen. Lincoln Hough, a Springfield Republican who chairs the Senate’s budget-writing committee, said Thursday.

This year marked one of the most chaotic budget processes in recent history as the Senate grappled with infighting among GOP senators. A roughly 41-hour filibuster from a group of hard-right senators had delayed all work in the chamber last week.

The hold-up required the budget chairs in the House and Senate to negotiate the plan behind closed doors, preventing more formal debates on the floors of each chamber in order to meet Friday’s constitutional deadline.

“The process was complicated and different, fairly unprecedented,” said Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, a Columbia Republican. “I hope that doesn’t become the new norm.”

The process faced criticism from members of both parties. The hard-right Missouri Freedom Caucus also railed against the plan itself, arguing they did not have enough time to analyze the budget and that lawmakers were spending too much.

“It’s frustrating having it dumped in our laps, trying to make an informed decision,” said Freedom Caucus chair Sen. Rick Brattin, a Harrisonville Republican.

However, some lawmakers argue that the Freedom Caucus was part of the reason for the delays.

The hard-right senators also briefly derailed debate in the Senate on Thursday by attempting to tack on amendments that would cut state funding for diversity initiatives. Senators rejected the amendments.

The Freedom Caucus’ decision to vote against the spending bills meant that the GOP-controlled Senate was forced to rely on Democrats to get the budget passed.

“They needed our votes on every single bill outside of two,” said Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, an Independence Democrat. “They even voted against the agriculture bill…so the agricultural community, you’re welcome to thank a Democrat.”

After senators voted to approve the plan Thursday evening, the House passed it around 2:50 p.m. on Friday — roughly three hours before the 6 p.m. deadline.

The spending plan includes roughly $728 million to improve Interstate-44, a substantial increase from the $14 million requested by Parson in January. It also adds $1.5 billion to increase broadband access and $8 million to support border control efforts at the southern border with Mexico.

The budget also includes $53 million for improvements to the Interstate 35, Interstate 29, and U.S. 169 corridor in Clay, Jackson, and Platte counties. It also adds $25 million to build a medical and behavioral health care “inpatient unit” for Children’s Mercy and $5 million to improve the riverfront near Kansas City Current’s new stadium.

The spending plan includes divisive amendments to every spending bill requiring cities that welcome undocumented immigrants to pay back all state funds. Missouri law already bans cities from welcoming undocumented immigrants.

While the proposal is targeted at Kansas City, Mayor Quinton Lucas has said he has no plans to make the city a sanctuary city for illegal immigration. It comes as Missouri Republicans repeatedly distort comments Lucas made welcoming migrant workers.

Rep. Cody Smith, a Carthage Republican who chairs the House budget committee, on Friday blamed the Senate for the lengthy delay in getting the budget passed.

But he also said that he felt comfortable with the final product.

“This process has been less than ideal,” Smith said. “Certainly the inability of the chamber across the rotunda to function in a way that was able to produce a budget prior to the day before the budget deadline is another unfortunate truth. That is not the fault of anyone here in this chamber.”

House Democrats also denounced the chaotic process and many either voted against the bills or declined to vote at all in protest.

Before lawmakers approved the plan, House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Springfield Democrat, put out a statement attacking the “secretive budget process.”

Quade, who is running for governor, said it allowed Smith and Hough to “secretly make all the decisions on how to spend nearly $51.7 billion in taxpayer money.”

“Missourians were completely left out of this process, and House Democrats cannot endorse the overall final product,” she said.

Rep. Peter Merideth, a St. Louis Democrat and the ranking minority member on the House budget committee said he would vote no on all of the budget bills because the negotiations took place behind closed doors.

“We just let two people behind closed doors work out all their differences and then present it to us, ‘here it is, take it or leave it. By the way, you got a couple hours,’” he said. “So I’m not willing to give them any kind of stamp of approval.”

Despite those protests, lawmakers were still able to gather enough votes to approve the spending plan by the deadline. Friday’s vote meant that lawmakers were able to narrowly avoid being called into a special session to finish the budget — for now.

Rizzo told reporters on Thursday that he expected Parson, who has been critical of the budget, to call a special session to add money to the spending plan so certain state programs can continue to operate this year.

“I would not put the idea away that there won’t be a special session,” he said. “It would shock me if we didn’t.”