Pearce: We are working to make budget efficient and fair

In his latest report, Sen. David Pearce, R-Warrensburg, outlines the work that has to be done to complete a budget for the state of Missouri:

Budgets are often difficult topics to discuss. Many times, there are more items in a budget requiring funds than there are funds to pay for them. Here in Missouri, this is certainly the truth this year, with an approximately $500 million shortfall to balance. We are bound by our state’s constitution to not deficit-spend. This requires the legislature to make tough decisions.


Typically, the budget process begins early in the legislative year when the governor presents his budget recommendations to the legislature during the State of the State address. Both the Senate Appropriations Committee and the House Budget Committee hear testimony separately from many state departments and agencies, as well as public testimony on where funds should be allocated. This process has already begun in the Senate.

I serve on the Appropriations Committee, and we have already heard from three state departments, including Revenue, Transportation and Elementary and Secondary Education. The individual committees then take this information into consideration, along with the governor’s proposed budget suggestions, and begin to assemble each chamber’s respective spending plan. There are at least 1,500 separate line-items in the budget and it takes weeks to review all of them.

Our state’s budget is comprised of 13 budget bills representing all the state departments. These bills, which originate in the House Budget Committee, are passed by the House, and then make their way to the Senate. When the budget bills reach the Senate, they are then sent to the Senate Appropriations Committee. Our committee reviews the House’s budget plan and amends it fit the Senate’s view regarding the budget. All bills must pass this committee before moving to the full Senate for debate. If any changes to the budget are made in the Senate, the budget is returned to the House for approval. Often, many changes are made to the working budget, so a conference committee is established, consisting of five members from both House and Senate. This committee meets and makes compromises until lawmakers can come to a consensus on the budget. One last final vote in both chambers sends our state’s budget to the governor for his approval.

The budget has a constitutional deadline to be completed and approved one week prior to the end of the legislative session. This year, that deadline falls on Friday, May 6. Even with such a complex process, the creation and approval of this budget is a delicate tug-of-war between necessary expenditures and saving taxpayer dollars. The only constant is our commitment to Missourians to refrain from raising taxes and to exercise fiscal restraint in these difficult times. When the budget is finally passed and signed by the governor, we strive to make it efficient and fair for all Missourians.