From teacher raises to opioid prevention: What Missouri’s new budget means for you

Hi y’all! What a week it has been in Jefferson City! There were certainly some highs and lows, but in the end, several bills were passed in the Senate and the fiscal year 2025 state operating budget was sent back to the Missouri House of Representatives with the Senate’s changes. It should pass smoothly and make it to the governor’s desk before the 6 p.m. deadline Friday evening. Granted, we cut it closer than almost any other session in history.

All told, the budget we sent to the House on Thursday comes in at around $51 billion. Our state’s massive spread in communities, demographics and values makes negotiating a budget this size almost impossible. As I have noted in past columns, some of the best legislation has some good and some bad for everyone. The budget is no exception. I am very happy with many of the items we included, specifically making sure that teachers are getting raises for starting salaries, providing more resources to veterans and law enforcement and an expansion in opioid abuse prevention.

I was also able to secure important funding for several projects in the 27th Senatorial District. I will go into more detail about those items in the coming weeks. One of the biggest accomplishments that will benefit our area of the state is the passage of the state’s Federal Reimbursement Allowance (FRA) renewal law. Senate Bill 748 opens up federal dollars that will be primarily poured into our rural healthcare systems, keeping hospitals, ambulance districts and pharmacies open and in operation. Improving access to health care has always been one of my priorities, so it was an easy decision to vote yes for this bill. We passed this bill after completing work on the budget on Thursday, making sure that around $4 billion will not be missing when we begin the new fiscal year in July.

Keep in mind that we must pass a balanced budget in Missouri. Much of the $51 billion are federal funds sent down during the COVID pandemic that still remain unspent due to one reason or another. Any dollars from last year’s budget that have yet to be spent have to be reappropriated the following year. So our actual state budget is much lower than it appears. The “reappropriation” of previous monies is always a bit deceiving. I wish there was a better way to list it!

I certainly hope in the future the Senate and General Assembly as a whole will not be pushing up against deadlines. We have seen it all too often when budget standoffs bring the federal government to the brink of a shutdown. Luckily, Missouri has a system in place to prevent this potential consequence, but we should also be responsible enough to not bring the fail-safes into play. This session comes to an end next Friday, I am hopeful we can use the brief, remaining time we have to do a few more great things for the people of this state and show them that their elected officials are still working for them.