Editorial correction: Cost of Missouri General Assembly special session

On July 8, The Star criticized Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens for calling a second special legislative session to consider abortion legislation. We said the special session was unnecessary.

In our editorial we said the special session could cost up to $1.2 million if it lasted a full 60 days.

As the session draws to a close, it’s clear our estimate was far too high.

Although final figures are not in, it appears the session will cost between $75,000 and $100,000. In a Facebook post Tuesday, the governor said it would cost around $80,000.

Earlier this year, taxpayers spent roughly $66,000 for a first special session on economic development issues. If the governor’s estimate of the costs of the second session proves accurate, the total taxpayer cost for the two special sessions this year should be roughly $146,000.

Taxpayers will determine if the results of the two sessions were worth the investment. But we should be clear: The sessions did not come close to costing $1 million.

We apologize for the error.

The Kansas City Star editorial board

This story was originally published July 25, 2017 at 4:05 PM with the headline "Editorial correction: Cost of Missouri General Assembly special session."