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The Week of March 25, 2024

On the Floor

I returned to Jefferson City this week, rejuvenated after spending time in our community and ready to get back to work after our mid-session break.

We began discussing the following bills on the Senate floor:

The Senate gave initial approval to the following bills:

Additionally, the Senate third read and passed the following bills:

Bills and Committees

Senator May’s Legislation:

Senate Bill 1504 was referred to the Senate Veterans, Military Affairs and Pensions Committee a couple of weeks ago, and I expect it to receive a hearing next week. It would modify the contributions rates for the Public School Retirement System for the City of St. Louis. 

Judiciary Committee:

The committee heard four bills this week. Senate Bill 763 and Senate Bill 1161 both modify current law relating to expungement. Both bills allow for automatic expungement of clean slate eligible offenses, removing the current petition process.

Senate Bill 1338 adds the following people to the list of those not eligible to file a petition for removal from the sexual offender registry:

Additionally, this act changes offenses which are currently tier I and II sexual offenses to tier III offenses.

Senate Bill 1390 modifies provisions relating to workers’ compensation administrative law judges. 

Commerce Committee:

The committee heard four bills this week. Senate Bill 1360 establishes the “Missouri Defense and Energy Independence Act,” authorizing a qualified company to claim a tax credit for costs incurred for converting such company to produce chemicals, metals, gases or rare earth minerals that will be used for projects to decrease or eliminate our state’s reliance on foreign-produced materials.

Senate Bill 1018 states that the state or a municipality must pay all relocation costs when requiring a broadband or video service provider to relocate their telecommunications infrastructure to provide internet to video service to customers. 

House Bill 2057 modifies the definition of “video service” to include streaming content for provisions of law relating to video service providers. 

Senate Bill 1280 modifies the duties of the Public Service Commission.

Rules, Joint Rules, Resolutions and Ethics Committee:

This week, the committee met to discuss and review consent bills. 

Appropriations Committee:

The following departments and offices shared their funding requests for the Fiscal Year 2025 state operating budget in this week’s hearing:

The committee also heard from state departments about their state tax credits requests:

Additionally, the committee heard testimony on House Bill 2016, a supplemental budget bill.

Capitol Visitors

Senator Karla May with Moms Demand Action volunteers.

Other News

Senior Property Tax Freeze Credit

The application for the City of St. Louis Senior Property Tax Credit is now open. This tax credit was passed as a part of Senate Bill 190 during last year’s legislative session and signed into law by the governor. It allows the city to provide senior citizens with fixed city property tax rates while protecting other tax rates such as public schools, the public library, the St. Louis Zoo, museums, etc., from revenue reductions. Eligible seniors can apply for this credit online, via paper form or in-person at the assessor's office. Applications are due by June 30, and individuals can learn more about eligibility and necessary documents at the link above.

Lawmakers seek to fix property tax credit passed last year

Some recently enacted county ordinances providing a property tax credit to eligible senior citizens could be invalidated under legislation the Missouri House of Representatives approved March 28 that would modify a new law enacted last year authorizing such ordinances. The House sent the measure to the Senate on a vote of 141-2, with six members voting present.

Last year’s legislation, Senate Bill 190, authorizes each county to determine whether to grant senior citizens who own and occupy their homes an annual tax credit that essentially would freeze their property taxes. However, the bill excluded some older homeowners from eligibility. In addition, some county ordinances limited the benefit to less wealthy homeowners or excluded property taxes owed to other local governments, such as school and fire districts, from the credit.

House Bill 2432 clarifies that all homeowners age 62 or older are entitled to the credit. It also bars counties from imposing a means test on eligibility or protecting schools and other local governments from losing revenue. Because existing ordinances that do so would conflict with HB 2432 if it became law, a court could strike them down if challenged.

A county whose ordinance was invalidated could enact another one that complied with the changes. However, since providing the credit is optional on the part of counties, they wouldn’t be required to do so. In some counties, the restrictions were intended to overcome opposition, and the ordinances might not have passed otherwise. Under both the existing law and proposed changes, voters can seek to put the issue on the countywide ballot through a petition process.

House committee passes $50 billion state operating budget

With limited discussion on the contents, the House Budget Committee on March 25 approved its version of a roughly $50 billion state operating budget for the 2025 fiscal year – a plan that slashes about $1.9 billion in spending authority from the proposed budget the governor presented lawmakers in January. The full House of Representatives is slated to begin debating the budget bills April 2.

Historically, the process of vetting budget bills in committee usually took several days, although in recent years pushing the bills through in a single 10- to 12-hour stretch has become more common. This year, however, the House Budget Committee chairman allowed only about three hours of discussion. As a result, lawmakers had little time to ask questions about the numerous changes the chairman made to the governor’s proposal or offer amendments. Members of the minority party on the committee said allowing so little time examine the plan’s details amounted to bad government and poor oversight of taxpayers’ money.

Among changes were cuts to appropriations for the state’s Medicaid program of about $575 million and a much smaller increase for public colleges and universities than recommended by the governor. The chairman did add $727.5 million not requested by the governor for rebuilding Interstate 44.

Once the budget bills clear the House, the process will move to the Senate. Lawmakers face a May 10 constitutional deadline for sending a completed budget to the governor. The new fiscal year begins July 1.

House approves bills targeting STL city police, earnings tax

On March 28, the Missouri House of Representative third read and passed House Bill 1481, which would cede control of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department back to the state. Previously, a state-run Board of Police Commissioners had governed the St. Louis department for more than 150 years, but the state’s authority ended when 63.9% of Missouri voters approved Proposition A, a statewide ballot measure in 2012 restoring local control. Under HB 1481, the governor would appoint four commissioners to the board.

I vehemently opposed this bill when it was filed last year, and I will continue to fight against the passage of this legislation. Local control of the department is the best option for our community.

House Bill 1516 would prevent the city from levying its 1% local earnings tax on remote workers who live outside the city, a practice that is currently being litigated. It cleared the House on a 100-47 vote. 

House votes to eliminate state’s corporate income tax

The House of Representatives voted 100-50 on March 27 to eliminate Missouri’s corporate income tax as of 2028, a move that would cost the state an estimated $884.39 million a year in lost revenue and make it substantially harder to fund basic government operations.

Lawmakers have already slashed the corporate income tax rate by more than one-third in recent years, reducing it from a high of 6.5% to its current 4%. House Bill 2274 calls for cutting the tax by one percentage point annually starting on Jan. 1, 2025, until the tax is zeroed out as of Jan. 1, 2028. The bill now advances to the Senate.

House advances Missouri CROWN Act to the Senate

Without opposition, the Missouri House of Representatives approved legislation to prohibit hairstyle-based discrimination by educational institutions that receive state funding. The bill advanced to the Senate by a final tally of 144-0, with one member voting present. 

Dubbed the “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act,” or CROWN Act, House Bill 1900 is aimed at preventing discrimination based on hairstyles common to certain races, cultures or ethnicities.

Proposed constitutional change would cap assessment hikes

The assessed value of owner-occupied residential property could increase by no more than 2% during a reassessment cycle under a proposed constitutional amendment the Missouri House of Representatives approved March 28 on a vote of 104-19, with 23 lawmakers voting present. If the Senate also approves it, the measure automatically would go on the Nov. 5 statewide ballot for voter approval.

House Joint Resolution 78 is intended to limit sharp increases in property taxes caused by rising property values. The 2% cap could be exceeded to account for new construction or improvements to a particular property.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Thank you for your interest in the legislative process. I look forward to hearing from you on the issues that are important to you this legislative session. If there is anything my office can do for you, please do not hesitate to contact my office at 573-751-3599.