Missouri is about to exhaust the surplus lawmakers relied on to balance the state budget, and elected officials are going to have to make deep cuts to align spending with revenue, State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick said in a report released Wednesday. The report shows a worsening picture of state finances since Fitzpatrick wrote a similar […]

When Barb Buchanan walked into her first support group for family members of people with mental illness in Columbia around 2010, Heather Harlan greeted her with a “huge smile.” Harlan started attending the meetings, run by NAMI Missouri, the statewide affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, in 2007. Her adult son, Micah Bacus, […]

A last-minute fight over public school funding Wednesday almost derailed final Missouri state budget votes as Democrats, with some Republican allies, questioned whether some funds dedicated to education will be available in the coming year. The debate centered on whether the budget relies too heavily on a good year from the Missouri Lottery. Education budgets […]

There are no increases in basic state aid to public schools or higher education in the compromise Missouri budget worked out Monday in a day-long conference. As a result, lawmakers will not fund the $190 million cost of a 2024 education law as requested by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. For community colleges […]

A Missouri Senate decision to use money set aside for Capitol renovations to shore up funding for public schools isn’t popular with Gov. Mike Kehoe or the budget chief in the Missouri House. But they aren’t dismissing it outright. Speaking to reporters at a news conference in his office, Kehoe said lawmakers who set $600 […]

The Missouri House on Thursday voted to advance a package of tax credits designed to boost access to affordable child care and stabilize the industry. The bill, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Brenda Shields of St. Joseph, passed with 50 Republicans and all Democrats in support. It’s the fourth year the chamber has sent the […]

The first Republican primary without an incumbent in 26 years in Missouri’s 6th Congressional District opened Tuesday with a clash over an endorsement that is likely the foreshadowing of a summer-long slugfest between top contenders. The final day of candidate filing began with state Rep. Mazzie Christensen of Bethany formall bowing out of the primary […]

Hundreds of child care providers, parents and child advocates rallied in the Missouri Capitol Wednesday, a day after the House signed off on $51.5 million in cuts to the state’s child care subsidy program. The proposed budget, which needs another roll call vote in the House before heading to the Senate, would also derail plans […]

The Missouri House rejected attempts by Democrats on Tuesday to restore $51.5 million in cuts to the state’s child care subsidy program. The program helps cover the cost of child care for more than 27,000 low-income and foster children statewide, according to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The department started a waiting […]

The Missouri House gave first-round approval Tuesday to a state operating budget that will close an almost $2 billion deficit by using almost all the state’s remaining surplus in the general revenue fund. At the end of more than five hours of debate, there were few changes in the spending plan for fiscal 2027 approved […]

A push to shift hundreds of millions of dollars among Missouri state colleges and universities ran into bipartisan skepticism Monday during a hearing of the House Budget Committee. State Rep. Dirk Deaton, chairman of the House Budget Committee, said he wants to overhaul state support for community colleges and universities by reallocating funding based on […]

The Missouri House voted Monday to spend state general revenue to serve people enrolled under the Medicaid expansion program for the first time since it was passed by voters in 2020. The $76.7 million item is part of a $3.15 billion supplemental spending bill that would push total appropriations for the year ending June 30 […]

Missouri Republicans voted Thursday to advance a plan to add Medicaid work requirements to the state Constitution, hoping to put the issue before voters in November. Democrats insist the proposal, which passed the Missouri House 99-48 on a party-line vote, would open the door for state lawmakers to defund the voter-approved expansion of Missouri’s Medicaid […]

Dozens of Missourians with developmental disabilities, their families, care staff and advocates packed a basement hearing room in the Capitol this week to oppose $80.7 million in proposed cuts to services that help people with disabilities live safely in their homes and participate actively in their communities. One witness after another testified — to applause […]

Missouri has just eight outpatient beds for people charged with crimes who have been ordered to undergo mental health treatment so their cases can move forward. Those beds are full. So are the state’s 440 psychiatric hospital beds that serve Missourians ruled incompetent to stand trial because of a mental illness or cognitive disability. There […]

Missouri lawmakers scrounged for unspent or underutilized funds that could be cut from next year’s budget Monday, vowing to protect programs they said are vital to the health of Missourians. Republican state Rep. Darin Chappell of Rogersville vowed during a presentation of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to minimize proposed cuts to […]

A state and federal investigation of “illegal” slot machines is looking at how “billions” flow from Missourians to the companies that own the games, Attorney General Catherine Hanaway told a legislative committee Thursday. The state, at the request of federal investigators, joined the probe that has its roots in a federal civil court case where […]