Proposed Budget Highlights
The governor’s “A Foundation for Growth” budget is focused on ensuring the next generation inherits a Missouri that is safer, stronger, and full of opportunity. The budget proposal is aimed at strengthening public safety, growing the economy, supporting agriculture, improving education, limiting the size of government, and laying the foundation to eliminate the state individual income tax.
Additionally, the budget recommendation reflects the state’s constitutional obligation to balance the budget and commit to responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars while addressing imbalances created by years of elevated spending. As state finances normalize following the influx of unprecedented federal funds, the administration is working to align ongoing spending with ongoing revenues in an effort to return state finances to a sustainable, pre-pandemic framework. The recommendation reduces more than $600 million from the core operating budget, beginning to address a projected future imbalance exceeding $2 billion. The recommendations prioritize fiscal discipline while continuing to meet mandatory and high-priority obligations, including Medicaid matching requirements, childcare subsidies, and disaster relief, without cutting core funding for higher education or the K-12 foundation formula.
The administration’s priorities include:
Public Safety
- Unmanned Aircraft Systems – allowing law enforcement the authority to intercept and respond to unmanned aircraft systems.
- Sentencing Reform – providing greater transparency to the sentencing process.
- Violent Juvenile Crime Reduction Strategy – expands the ability to a prosecuting attorney to seek adult certification for violent juvenile offenders.
Economic Development
- Eliminating Individual Income Tax – recommends a constitutional amendment that would give the Missouri General
- Assembly the ability to carry forward the administration’s plan to eliminate the state income tax.
- Energy – proposes lowering the renewable energy standard from 15 percent to 7.5 percent and includes nuclear power as a generation source.
- Missouri Work Enhancements – creates a new tool within Missouri Works to attract projects with capital investments.
Agriculture
- Missouri Future Farmers of America - Funding for statewide and community level agricultural education programs.
- Missouri Rice Acquisition - Addresses food security needs through the purchase of Missouri grown rice.
- Resilient Food System Infrastructure - Funds a cooperative agreement with USDA for equipment and infrastructure investments to food producers and processers.
- Low Volume Roads - Improves low-volume routes across the state.
Education
- Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) – Establishes a five-member governing board for MSHSAA.
- Open Enrollment – Allow students to attend a public school district in which they do not reside, if the receiving district volunteers to accept students from outside the district.
- School Accountability Grade Card – requires each school district to receive a grade between A-F based on student performance.
Healthcare
- Outpatient Competency Restoration – increases funding for outpatient competency restoration services.
- Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Support – additional funding for treatment of substance use disorders.
- Medicaid reform – staffing and program integrity improvements to ensure accurate distribution of Medicaid and related benefits.
- Rural Health Transformation – supports provider participation, delivery system improvements, and care coordination activities.
Government Efficiency
- Missouri GREAT – an executive order that reinforces the administration’s commitment to government efficiency, creating the Missouri Government Responsibility, Efficiency, Accountability, and Transformation Initiative.
- Artificial Intelligence – reinforces Missouri’s commitment to safely and effectively integrate AI into state government operations.