<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/5/1620052006400.jpeg" alt="Missouri Senate Chamber/Photo courtesy of Missouri Senate" />
 <figcaption>Missouri Senate Chamber/Photo courtesy of Missouri Senate</figcaption>
 </figure>By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostIt’s crunch time for state budget negotiators with the
constitutional deadline to pass a state budget fast approaching in Jefferson
City.State Sen. Dan Hegeman of Cosby again serves as the Senate Appropriations
Committee chair and says the budget at the end of this session looks much
better than many thought it would at the beginning of this session.“Last year at this time we were worried about the detrimental impacts
of COVID-19 and how it was going to affect our economy. So, we prepared a very
conservative budget last year,” Hegeman tells St. Joseph Post.Hegeman gives a lot of credit to fellow Republican, Gov. Mike
Parson, for negotiating all the unknowns which faced the state during the
height of the coronavirus pandemic.“You can attribute the fact that we have seen positive growth
in our economy to the governor of the state of Missouri, Mike Parson,”
according to Hegeman. “I think he managed the situation well and we’re bearing
the fruits of that right now.”Hegeman says state revenue grew by 3½% to 4% this past year.“As a hole, I think the state of Missouri is robust, resilient,
and has weathered this situation well,” Hegeman says.Hegeman concedes some sectors of the Missouri economy haven’t
done as well as others. He says the legislature has used CARES Act funding to
help and awaits word from Washington on how the legislature can allocate the
latest coronavirus aid passed by Congress.“We are not adjusting much of those funds in this year’s
fiscal budget,” Hegeman says. &nbsp;“We’ll
either address those in a special session or an extraordinary session or in
next year’s regular session in January.”At present, legislators must work on the state budget for the
next fiscal year. Both the Senate and House have approved $34 billion budgets,
but the make-up of the budgets differ and those differences must be resolved
and a final spending blueprint for the next fiscal year passed by the end of
the legislative day Friday.Both chambers agree on one thing:&nbsp; not to expand Medicaid. Lawmakers took a
controversial step when they refused to fund Medicaid expansion even though
voters approved expansion. Gov. Parson had included Medicaid expansion in his
budget proposal.Hegeman insists though voters approved Medicaid expansion that
doesn’t require the legislature to fund it.“The court made it very clear that the legislature still had
the appropriations authority over whether this expansion of Medicaid happens or
not,” Hegeman says. “So, there’s some discussion around that.”It appears certain the decision will trigger a lawsuit.Hegeman says the budget approved by the Senate last week
addresses the state’s biggest needs.“It’s a budget that I think will address many of the needs in
the state of Missouri and some of them that we have been wanting to address for
some time,” Hegeman says.The Senate budget includes $3.56 billion in state aid to
schools and $113 million for school bus transportation.

Deadline looms for Missouri lawmakers to agree to $34B state budget