Assessing the Budget Process In the Wake of COVID-19
The Legislature’s chief constitutionally required duty during each legislative session is to create and approve the state’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Our colleagues in the House of Representatives sent the budget bills to the Senate that reflected the budgetary issues Missouri will inevitably face, including $146 million in budget cuts. I believe this was necessary to account for the significant loss of revenue our state has experienced in the past month and a half. The Senate Appropriations Committee met to discuss and approve or disapprove each line item in every bill. Last week, the budget bills were brought before the full Senate for our consideration. I was dismayed to find that the budget had increased to nearly the size of last year’s budget.
The Legislature is responsible for creating and passing a balanced budget. We cannot accomplish this task if we are spending money I do not believe the state has to spend. By passing this budget, I believe we are placing an enormous burden on our governor. He has already had to make several difficult decisions during this crisis. In my opinion, the overly optimistic budget we passed will result in passing the buck from the General Assembly to the governor to make the difficult and necessary cuts. I believe he will have to make more difficult decisions determining which parts of the budget will need to be cut or receive reduced funding.
This year, the COVID-19 crisis certainly disrupted our legislative session, and specifically our budget process. Normally, the Senate Appropriations Committee has weeks to discuss and plan Missouri’s budget, but the committee’s work had to be jammed into an incredibly small window of time because of COVID-19 related issues. The committee was presented with unique budgetary problems, and did its best to solve them. From my perspective, what was brought to the Senate floor was a budget that had grown in size to a number akin to when Missouri was in an economic boon. I take this as a serious problem given the issues Missourians and people across the country are facing.
Missourians have experienced severe economic hardships during the past couple of months. According to the Missouri Department of Labor, more than 460,000 individuals filed for unemployment during the months of March and April. In Missouri, many business owners lost their ability to generate revenue during the stay at home order and are now wondering how they will recover these financial losses. I personally received many phone calls from employers and employees who were trying to navigate the process of filing for unemployment, and wondering if they could keep their doors open.
I believe we must be better stewards of our constituents’ hard-earned tax dollars. As their elected officials, it is our duty to ensure their money is spent responsibly, and I don’t believe we have fulfilled that responsibility. Aside from the first budget bill concerning our state’s public debt, I voted no on every budget bill to demonstrate my disapproval of excessive government spending during a time when taxpayers are tightening their belts.
Please visit Sen. Burlison’s official Missouri Senate website at senate.mo.gov/burlison for more legislative and constituent resources.