Missouri lawmakers might miss budget deadline, necessitating a special session

JEFFERSON CITY — For only the second time ever, Missouri lawmakers might miss the constitutional deadline to balance the state budget.

The deadline, spelled out in the Missouri Constitution, requires lawmakers to stop working on the budget by "6:00 p.m. on the first Friday following the first Monday in May of each year."

For everyone else, that's the evening of May 5. Lawmakers will still convene the following week until the legislature adjourns indefinitely, but the Constitution prevents them from taking up the budget.

House Communications Director Trevor Fox said the only time lawmakers have missed this deadline was in 1997.

Read more: http://www.news-leader.com/story/news/politics/2017/04/25/missouri-lawmakers-might-miss-budget-deadline-necessitating-special-session/100853536/