The House Budget Committee took another step toward passing a balanced budgetfor fiscal year 2015 by unanimously voting the supplemental budget bill, House Bill 2014, out of committee on Tuesday. The supplemental budget appropriates emergency funding needed by departments before the start of the next fiscal year. In creating this year’s budget bills, the House Budget Committee is working off of last year’s numbers instead of the Governor’s unrealistic revenue estimates.
The annual budget process begins with the development of the consensus revenue estimate (CRE), which is an estimate of how much revenue the state is expected to have for the next year. This year, however, the Governor’s staff walked out of the CRE negotiations, refusing to accept the fiscally responsible estimate developed by the House and Senate and an economist with the University of Missouri.
By predicting unattainable levels of revenue for the state, the governor is essentially budgeting money that Missouri may never have. This makes it easy for him to promise increases to every government program asking for a handout, but the House of Representatives is dedicated to crafting a fiscally responsible budget, not playing political games.
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Next week, the Budget Committee will hear recommendations from Appropriations Committee chairs on how much money should be allocated to various departmental programs for the next fiscal year. The committee will be able to change funding levels by amending, or marking up, the budget bills. Since Missouri only has a finite amount of money, no member can offer an amendment to increase the amount allocated to one program without first taking an equal or greater amount from another source.
Legislators are presented with a nearly endless list of funding requests, but because all increases must be taken from another source, we have to carefully prioritize programs. This commitment to responsible budgeting helps ensure that adequate funding goes to initiatives that truly benefit Missourians without wasting taxpayer dollars on frivolous programs.