2019 Veto and Extraordinary Sessions
Last week, the General Assembly met for this year’s annual veto session. After the legislative session ended in May, the governor signed the majority of bills we passed and only vetoed six pieces of legislation. Our responsibility during veto session is to discuss the vetoed legislation. This year, my colleagues and I did not vote to override the governor’s actions on any of the six vetoed bills.
This year was a little different, because in August the governor called an extraordinary session to run concurrently with veto session in order to pass legislation to address a recent Missouri Supreme Court decision. This summer, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the sale proceeds of only one vehicle, trailer, boat or outboard motor may be used as a credit against the sales tax owed on the purchase of another. Before this decision, Missourians could use the sale of multiple vehicles to offset the sales tax obligation of a new vehicle. The governor thought this was an important issue to address, and called the General Assembly back into session to pass legislation allowing Missourians to continue to use the proceeds of multiple vehicles toward the sales tax obligations of a newer vehicle.
After this legislation was passed by the Missouri House of Representatives and sent to the Senate, it was referred to the committee I chair, the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The committee heard the bill’s sponsor discuss the details of the Missouri Supreme Court case and the importance of this legislation to many Missourians. After the bill was passed unanimously out of committee, my fellow senators and I passed the legislation on the Senate floor last Friday, Sept. 13. On Monday, Sept. 16, the speaker of the House and president pro tem of the Senate signed the legislation and sent it to the governor for his approval. The legislation will take effect 90 days after the governor signs the legislation into law.
As always, it’s an honor and privilege serving you in the Missouri General Assembly. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, concerns or ideas to improve our state government. Thank you for reading my capitol report, and I look forward to sharing more of our work with you soon.
Sincerely,
