Senator Karla May's May Report for the Week of Feb. 10, 2025

Friday, February 14, 2025

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The Week of Feb. 10, 2025

On the Floor

On Tuesday, Feb. 11, the Senate began discussing Senate Bills 52 & 44, which would establish state control of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. I stood in opposition to this legislation for a couple of hours on Tuesday afternoon, attempting to understand the motivation behind this proposal. Proponents of this legislation claim it is because of the high crime rates in St. Louis City, but there are other cities in Missouri with higher crime rates than St. Louis City. Given this bill is focused on public safety, I thought it made sense to offer an amendment to place the police departments in these communities under state control as well. I inquired of the senators who represent these areas and none of them were supportive of state control of their police departments. This is exactly how I feel, and I know the people in our community feels the same way. We do not want state control of our police department, and I am hopeful my colleagues can come to understand how we feel and vote against this bill.

 

I will continue to fight for the city of St. Louis to keep control over their police department. Missourians across the state have made their voice heard on this issue, and I think we should respect their opinion. No further action was taken on my amendment or the bill overall, but I know this topic will come up again. When it does, I will be ready to continue fighting for you and our community. 

 

The Senate also began debate on the following bills:

  • Senate Bill 84 creates the offense of tampering with an election official.
  • Senate Bill 22 states that if the General Assembly adopts a joint resolution proposing a constitutional amendment or statutory measure to be referred to the people that includes an official summary statement, that statement must appear on the ballot, and no court has the authority to rewrite or edit the summary statement. If such summary statement is challenged in court and the court finds the summary statement to be legally flawed, the summary statement can only be rewritten by the secretary of state, unless the General Assembly, by passage of a concurrent resolution, passes a new summary statement eight weeks before the election.

 

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

  • Senate Concurrent Resolution 3 adds health and life sciences and immersive learning experiences to the mission of Missouri Southern State University. 
  • Senate Bill 59 would allow an income tax deduction of all survivor benefits derived from service in the Armed Forces of the United States, in addition to the deduction for retirement benefits for military service currently authorized in law.
  • Senate Bill 163 adds the performance of state-funded military orders of the National Guard, commonly known as state active duty (SAD) or state emergency duty (SED), to duties eligible for an income tax deduction. 
  • Senate Bill 47 amends Supreme Court Rules 52.08 to provide uniformity with federal rules for the procedure of class action lawsuits. 
  • Senate Bill 67 states that a taxpayer will not be liable for penalties or interest on an income tax balance if the taxpayer was denied all or part of a tax credit they were qualified for due to lack of funds. The taxpayer would still need to pay that balance back to the Missouri Department of Revenue within 60 days.

 

Bills and Committees

Senator May’s Legislation:

This week I was proud to present Senate Bill 18 to the Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. This bill would allow the circuit court of St. Louis City to collect a civil case filing fee of an amount not to exceed $20, rather than $15, for certain uses, including the maintenance of a law library.

 

Judiciary Committee:

Senate Bill 218 would add a mental health treatment court to the current specialized treatment court divisions of the circuit courts. These specialized courts currently include an adult treatment court, DWI court, family treatment court, juvenile treatment court and veteran treatment court.

 

Commerce Committee:

The committee voted do pass on Senate Bill 186, which creates provisions relating to integrated resource planning for electrical corporations.

 

Appropriations Committee:

The following departments and offices shared their funding requests for the Fiscal Year 2026 state operating budget in this week’s hearing:

  • State Public Defender
  • Department of Natural Resources
  • Department of Conservation
  • Office of Administration
  • Employee Benefits
  • Statewide Real Estate
  • Reappropriations
  • Maintenance and Repair
  • Construction Renovation
  • American Rescue Plan Act
  • Attorney General
  • Department of Economic Development

 

Other News

House approves eliminating state taxes on capital gains

The Missouri House of Representatives voted 100-48-1 on Feb. 13 to completely eliminate state taxes on investment income, a move that would primarily benefit wealthier Missourians while costing the state more than $334.8 million a year in lost revenue, according to the bill’s official fiscal estimate. The legislation provides no mechanism for the replacing that money, which could ultimately result in spending cuts to education, health care and other state services.

 

Under House Bill 594, Missourians could deduct from their state taxes 100% of income derived from capital gains, such as the sale of stocks and investment property, among other things. The bill is the latest of several large tax cuts mostly benefitting higher income Missourians pushed in recent years, including multiple reductions in the top state income tax rate, the latest of which just took effect Jan. 1.

 

The latest proposed tax cut comes as state revenue collections are down for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, and expected to remain flat during the upcoming fiscal year. HB 594 now moves to the Senate.

 

House votes to block state from seizing foster kids’ money

The Missouri House of Representatives on Feb. 13 voted 149-1 to advance legislation to the Senate that would prohibit the state Children’s Division from seizing the federal survivor benefits of kids in the foster care system. Similar legislation fell short of winning final legislative passage last year despite strong bipartisan support.

 

During the previous state fiscal year, Children’s Division collected more than $10.6 million from the approximately 1,200 foster kids who received federal benefits. The division uses the funds to offset the state’s costs of keeping the kids in foster care.

 

Opponents of the practice, which has few defenders, say it’s wrong to take this money from foster children since it leaves them with nothing to help start their lives when they age out of the system. Children’s Division officials have said that without the money, lawmakers will need to increase the agency’s taxpayer funding to make up for the lost revenue.

 

House Bill 737 would also encourage the division to place kids with foster parents of the same religion as the biological parents when possible and specify that it isn’t child neglect for families to allow children to engage in “independent activities” such as playing outside or walking or biking unaccompanied to nearby locations.

 

Attorney general alleges Starbucks hires too many women, minorities

The Missouri Attorney General sued coffee giant Starbucks on Feb. 11 for allegedly giving hiring preference to women and racial minorities in violation of state and federal discrimination laws, noting in the lawsuit that “since 2020, Starbuck’s workforce has become more female and less white.”

 

The attorney general filed the case in federal district court in St. Louis. He is asking the court to enjoin the company from engaging in the allegedly discriminatory practices and require it to pay an unspecified amount in damages. 

 

He cites Starbucks’ diversity, equity and inclusion programs as the basis for his allegations, claiming such programs “skew the hiring pool towards people who are less qualified to perform their work, increasing costs for Missouri’s consumers.” The lawsuit does not explain how women and minorities are less qualified to serve coffee drinks than white men.

 

I do not believe diversity, equity and inclusion programs give preference to unqualified applicants. I believe they aim to expand hiring pools to include qualified applicants from historically overlooked groups. According to the attorney general’s filing, Starbucks had nearly 200 locations in Missouri as of 2023.

 

During a House Budget Committee hearing the day after the lawsuit was filed, lawmakers grilled the attorney general over the case and how much pursuing it will cost Missouri taxpayers. He said the costs remain to be seen. No hearing date has yet been set in the case, State of Missouri ex rel. Andrew Bailey v. Starbucks Corp.

 

Committee advances bill extending anti-transgender laws

The House Emerging Issues Committee on Feb. 10 voted 10-4 along straight party lines to make permanent a pair of state laws that separately prohibit providing gender-affirming health care to transgender minors and ban transgender athletes from competing on a sports team that doesn’t correspond with their birth gender. 

 

Both laws currently are set to expire in 2027 as part of a deal struck to overcome resistance from Senate minority party members when the measures originally were debated in 2023. The latest bills seek to remove the sunset provisions from both statutes.

 

During eight hours of emotional testimony before the committee a week prior to the vote, a large number of transgender Missourians and their supporters pleaded with lawmakers to let these laws expire and stop using this vulnerable community as a political punching bag. Only a half-dozen people testified in favor of the measures.

 

After some standard procedural steps, House Bill 35, making permanent the ban on gender-affirming medical care, and House Bill 113, restricting sports participation by transgender athletes, will go to the full House of Representatives for debate.

 

State revenue down 2.2% seven months into FY 2024

Year-to-date net state general revenue collections decreased 2.2% through the first seven months of the 2025 fiscal year compared to the same period in FY 2024, going from $7.59 billion last year to $7.42 billion this year. Net revenues had been up a scant 0.1% through the first six months of the fiscal year.

 

Net general revenue collections for January 2025 decreased 11.5% compared to those for January 2024, going from $1.45 billion last year to $1.29 billion this year. A large drop in individual income tax collections following a tax cut that took effect Jan. 1 and a substantial decline in state sales tax revenue were among the factors responsible for the decreased collections.

 

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.