No Way to Budget
Do Missouri’s elected officials think the phrase “better late than ever” applies to passing the budget? Last week, our general assembly cut things incredibly close by approving next year’s spending plan just a few short hours before the constitutional deadline.
For months, I’ve been expressing concerns about this budget. After years of record-breaking spending growth, the well of exorbitant federal funds will soon be drying up, and state tax revenues are expected to decline or remain stagnant. Not to be deterred, in January, Governor Parson laid out his plan that recommended more of the same, including spending more than the state expects to bring in. Over the next few months, the House of Representatives worked to pare that plan back, ultimately finding some (but not enough) savings.
Over the past month, the Senate had been working on its version of the budget, but to no avail. Due to an apparent combination of time constraints and chamber dysfunction, the spending plan didn’t see the Senate floor until the day before Missouri’s constitution requires it be passed. The result of this delay was a budget that almost no one had seen in advance, yet still had to be approved by both legislative chambers over a matter of hours. All this had to happen without anyone making any changes.
The problems with this process should be obvious. Instead of each chamber having its own version of the budget to compare against the governor’s, and a conference committee process to reconcile differences, the compromises were made outside of the public eye. Instead of taxpayers being able to see how each chamber prioritizes spending, the lack of conference meant that there was no avenue for input from citizens on the final product. And instead of lawmakers having several days, if not weeks, to examine the proposed budget and suggest amendments, they were stuck with a take-it-or-leave-it offer.
Unsurprisingly, the approved budget looks like it leaves much to be desired. As Missouri’s legislators are fond of saying, passing the budget is the general assembly’s sole constitutional responsibility. Given the gravity of the assignment, it’s incredibly disheartening that the process played out the way it did. Over the next few weeks, I’ll continue unpacking the spending decisions of our elected officials. At this point, what’s clear is that Missouri desperately needs more budget transparency, and what happened this year should never be allowed to happen again.
