Budget Process Underway
Arguably the most important responsibility legislators are tasked with is crafting the state budget. It is the one thing state statute requires of us. If we pass no other bills, we are bound by law to put forth a budget and to have that budget truly agreed and finally passed by both the Senate and the House no later than the next-to-last last Friday before the end of each year’s legislative session. This year, session ends on Friday, May 12, so the deadline for passing the 2018 budget is April 28.
While I have served on the Senate Appropriations Committee for six years, I am honored to now serve as its chairman. The committee is charged with working with the House to develop and finalize the state’s budget – giving consideration to the governor’s recommendations – for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.
As budget bills always originate in the House, the House Budget Committee is currently working to craft their proposed budget. Once truly agreed and finally passed in the House, the budget bills will be sent over to Senate Appropriations, where we will then start our hearings and going through “Mark Up,” the process by which we mark up the House bills with our proposed changes. The marked-up bills are then sent to the Senate floor to be truly agreed and finally passed.
From there, both the House-passed versions and the Senate-passed versions will be sent to Conference Committee, where differences will be reconciled between the two chambers and a final budget will be determined and sent to the governor for his signature. As with any piece of legislation sent to the governor, he has the option to veto any bill. In the case of budget bills, he also has the option to veto specific line items. Any vetoes can be overridden by a 2/3 majority vote in both chambers.
Currently, Senate Appropriations has been hearing presentations from the state departments. They present their proposed budgets, make their cases for the funding requests they have made, and address the governor’s recommendations, which sometimes conflict with the department’s requested funding. It’s an informative process, which includes a lot of inquiries made by the committee that really help us understand the intricacies of the departments and will ultimately help us make critical decisions during Mark Up and Conference Committee.
I will continue to keep you updated as the budget process unfolds.
Always feel free to contact me throughout the year with any comments, questions, or issues by calling my office at (573) 751-5713 or by visiting my website at www.senate.mo.gov/brown.
Thank you for reading this and for your participation in state government.