Missouri Budget Includes $348 Million in Earmarks as State Revenue Growth Slows
Why It Matters
Missouri lawmakers are finalizing a roughly $51 billion state budget under tightening fiscal conditions, and more than 150 earmarks totaling $348.3 million — including $164.6 million in general revenue — are embedded in the spending plan headed toward a constitutional deadline. The earmark total is drawing scrutiny at a moment when the state has declined to fully fund its school foundation formula, citing sluggish revenues.
The general revenue committed to earmarked projects is nearly equal to the $190 million that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education says is needed to fully fund the school foundation formula — a constitutional budget priority that Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe left out of his January proposal and that neither legislative chamber added back in.
What Happened
During Senate floor debate last month, state Sen. Brian Williams, a University City Democrat and senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, spent 25 minutes questioning Senate Appropriations Chair Rusty Black, a Chillicothe Republican, about a dozen earmarks added to the Department of Social Services budget after the bill cleared committee — without a recorded committee vote.
Black said the additions came from conversations with fellow senators and the governor’s office. “We changed some dollar amounts in here as well by working with senators,” Black said in remarks during the debate. “And the governor’s office also had some programs that they cared about that they reached out to me about.” Williams said afterward that his questioning was not directed at opposing the spending itself, but at the lack of transparency in how such items enter the budget.
The Missouri Independent is tracking more than 150 earmarks across the 16 appropriation bills required to be passed by a constitutional Friday deadline. The Senate Appropriations Committee also added 19 items to the state capital construction budget last week, increasing the earmark price tag by an additional $87.2 million, including $72.2 million in general revenue.
By the Numbers
- $348.3 million — total value of tracked earmarks, including $164.6 million in general revenue
- $51 billion — approximate total state budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1
- $190 million — amount needed to fully fund the school foundation formula, left out of the budget
- $265 million — projected general revenue fund balance on June 30, 2027, per Kehoe’s January estimate
- 0.8% — decline in general revenue receipts through late April compared to the prior fiscal year
Notable Earmarks
Among the largest single items is $104.6 million to begin making the Capitol Building accessible to people with disabilities — a project Kehoe did not request. Other notable earmarks include $20 million to relocate a road at the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia, $15 million for a parking garage tied to a new Jefferson City convention center, and $7 million for a dental school building at Missouri Western State University.
At the other end of the scale, the smallest earmark in the entire budget is $150 for a reflector at a rest stop on Interstate 44 near Lebanon. None of the earmarks are publicly identified by the name of the legislator who requested them, a transparency gap that has drawn bipartisan criticism. State Rep. Kathy Steinhoff, a Columbia Democrat, argued the spending priorities are misaligned. “It’s like talking out of both sides of their mouth saying that they don’t have enough money for the $190 million to fully fund the foundation formula, which is constitutionally a priority of our budget, and then to happen to spend the same amount of money on small projects,” she said.
For context on how Missouri’s education funding debate is unfolding alongside these budget pressures, lawmakers are simultaneously pushing a range of education bills as the session nears its close.
Zoom Out
Missouri’s earmark surge follows a pattern seen in multiple states that experienced post-pandemic revenue windfalls and used the surplus to expand local project spending. Missouri’s general revenue fund peaked at nearly $5.8 billion in June 2023. By the end of April 2026, that balance had fallen to $2.9 billion. In the 2024 legislative session, more than 400 earmarks made it into the final budget — a high-water mark — before Kehoe vetoed 109 items last year and warned that the surplus era was ending.
The dynamic mirrors broader fiscal pressures facing state governments nationally as federal pandemic-era aid has expired and revenue growth has moderated. Federal tariff policy uncertainty has added additional complexity to state revenue forecasting across the country.
What’s Next
The Missouri legislature faces a constitutional deadline to pass all 16 appropriation bills. Final authority over earmarks rests with Gov. Kehoe, who has already signaled he may restrict spending items if revenues fall short. State Budget Director Dan Haug said the administration will evaluate all items once the legislative process concludes. “Once the whole process is done,” Haug said, “we’ll take a look at it and make our determinations at that time.” Kehoe also released a list in January of items that would be held pending revenue certainty, meaning no earmark is guaranteed to survive to implementation.