The Missouri House of Representatives approved a nearly $2 billion supplemental budget Wednesday to fund the state government through the rest of the current fiscal year.
The legislature passes a supplemental budget every year. It’s common for unexpected financial needs to arise or for programs to cost more in reality than the projections that were approved in the previous year’s budget. When that happens, the budget has to be adjusted so everything can remain funded.
Rep. Betsy Fogle, of Springfield, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, praised the speed and bipartisan cooperation that went into the supplemental budget.
“We need to get these dollars out the door as quickly as possible,” Fogle said. “I appreciate the chair’s work across the aisle in making sure we crafted a good supplemental.”
House Budget Committee Chairman Dirk Deaton, R-Seneca, said this year’s supplemental budget was less expensive than anticipated.
The allocations include about $300 million for public education, largely because last year’s wide-reaching education bill passed late in the session and wasn’t accounted for in the budget.
Also included is new money for the Department of Natural Resources for wastewater management, funding for the Department of Mental Health to clear its waitlist for services for the developmentally disabled and funding for the Department of Agriculture to hire a staff member to respond to the current bird flu epidemic.
The current fiscal year goes through the end of June. The legislature is required to pass a full budget for the next fiscal year before the legislative session ends in May.
The budget bill passed the House almost unanimously with a vote of 150-2. The bill will now go to the Senate.
The River City Journalism Fund supports St. Louis Public Radio's Statehouse internship. Evy Lewis is the 2025 reporting intern. See rcjf.org for more information about the fund, which seeks to advance journalism in St. Louis.
