Learn more about last-minute cuts to the transit portion of the Missouri budget and how you can take action to reverse them.
Overview:
- Governor Kehoe issued a line-item veto in the Missouri state budget which slashed transit funding by 42%.
- This cut exacerbates transit funding challenges across the state.
- With your help, we can push state legislators to restore funding during the veto session in September.
Read on for more information!
Each year, the Missouri legislature must adopt a proposed budget and send it to the governor for review and approval. The governor then has an opportunity to issue line-item vetoes. Line-item vetoes are the partial or full removal of portions of the proposed budget.
When Missouri legislators sent the proposed FY 2026 state budget to Governor Kehoe, he used his veto pen and reduced the amount of transit funding from $11.7 million to $6.7 million (a 42% decrease). You can learn more about the cuts from this piece by Citizens for Modern Transit.
Why is the loss of this funding such an issue for the 30 transit providers across the state, including the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority? Consider this:
- State funding enables local communities to bring in some of the $91 billion in federal funds earmarked for transit.
- Missouri’s per capita spending on transit has dropped from $1.89 to $1.08, making it the lowest per capita spending among neighboring states.
- In the Kansas City region, roughly 300,000 people have lost access to transit. Cities like Independence, Gladstone, and Raytown have completely eliminated or drastically reduced bus routes and transit services.
- More local cuts are likely, and the total number of people without transit services in our region could climb to 500,000 or more.
- Transit funding cuts at the state level will continue our region’s transit death spiral.
We can’t allow this to happen. That’s why BikeWalkKC and our partners across the region and the state need YOUR help. Here’s what you can do:
- Use this link to email your state legislators and ask them to overturn Governor Kehoe’s veto of transit funding.
- Urge your friends and partners to do the same.
The Missouri Legislature will meet for a veto session on Wednesday, September 10, 2025. Our best chance to stop these cuts from taking effect is to urge our state legislators to override Governor Kehoe’s veto on transit funding.
The reductions to transit funding are more than just numbers on a page; they represent the loss of access to the resources Missourians need to achieve and maintain a good quality of life. Organizations like BikeWalkKC recognize this, and that’s why we need your help to restore what could be lost.