Conference Committee to reconvene hearing on state budget Thursday afternoon
Jazsmin Halliburton
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Conference Committee will reconvene on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. after a late night of discussions over the state budget, as the deadline looms to have all spending bills approved by Friday.
The Senate planned on working late Wednesday, so the Conference Committee hearing could not start until they were finished. The hearing did not begin until 8:40 p.m. and adjourned just before 11:30 p.m.
Thursday’s initial meeting was planned for 10:30 a.m., but had a recess at around 11:30 a.m. and then moved to the afternoon.
“Appreciate all conversations and I think we’re pretty close on finishing this thing up, so give us a couple of hours and we’ll back,” co chair of the committee Sen. Lincoln Hough (R-Springfield) said before adjournment.
There was supposed to be a hearing Wednesday morning, but it went into recess less than a minute after it began. That is because the committee could not be in conference while sessions are taking place in either chamber.
This comes as the Missouri House of Representatives and the Senate work to finalize the state budget bill before Friday’s deadline.
Of the 17 budget appropriations, only HB 14 has been truly agreed on by both the House and Senate and is ready for the governor’s approval. The final agreement for HB 14 was a little under $2 million for supplemental opportunities like grants, refunds, and extra expenses across state government departments. The remaining bills are left for budget discussions in the committee.
The Senate budget is about $50 million more than the one the House approved. The Senate Appropriation Committee’s plan included $300 million more for public schools than was recommended by Governor Mike Kehoe. The Missouri House of Representatives passed a $47.9 billion state budget on April 3.
Hough said that despite the increased budget, there is still over $1 billion left in reserves.
“This is all about compromise, it’s all about working with your colleagues,” Hough said. “A lot of people have a lot of priorities and a lot of programs they want to see funded and it’s still coming together, but I feel pretty good about the end product right now.”