Keeping Missouri Farms Local

As the Missouri General Assembly nears the half-way point in the 2023 legislative session, the Senate reached an important milestone this week. March 1 was the last day non-appropriations bills could be introduced in the Senate. More than two dozen bills and resolutions came in under the wire on the last filing day. The Senate now has nearly 800 separate pieces of legislation to consider prior to the end of session on May 12. And that only includes measures introduced in the Senate. There’s at least 1,400 House bills, as well. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. We won’t get to all of these bills, so we’ll need to choose which issues to tackle to best benefit Missourians.

This week, I presented Senate Bill 334 to the Senate’s recently formed Select Committee on the Protection of Missouri Assets from Foreign Adversaries Committee. My bill prohibits the sale of real estate to foreign buyers after Aug. 28, 2023. Under current law, up to 1% of Missouri’s total agricultural acreage can be held by foreigners. The legislation I sponsored would allow foreigners to keep the farmland they own now, but they would only be allowed to sell those properties to Americans in the future. Senate Bill 334 differs from similar measures by also prohibiting aliens and foreign businesses from purchasing or leasing land near Missouri military installations. The details of the military provisions are still be worked out, but I believe it’s important to prevent foreign adversaries from establishing a base to monitor military activities.

My legislation to restore incentives for motion picture production in Missouri, Senate Bill 94, received a final vote in the upper chamber this week and has been sent onto the House for its consideration. This bill establishes tax credits for expenses related to motion picture production in Missouri. Since 2013, when previous film incentives expired, there have been no major films produced within our borders. This legislation should change that, and bring jobs and economic activity to Missouri. Another provision of the bill is aimed at enticing world-class musical performers to develop their stage acts at a new rehearsal facility near St. Louis.

In other legislative activity this week, the Economic Development and Tax Policy Committee considered Senate Bill 277, legislation I sponsored that would add four additional members to the Missouri Development Finance Board. Also, in the Appropriations Committee, we continued our review of the governor’s budget requests. This week, we looked at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development and the Department of Social Services. These three state agencies accounted for half of state spending in the current fiscal year’s operating budget, so getting these right is critical if we’re going to keep next year’s budget in line.

We also had a busy week welcoming visitors to the office. Among those who stopped by were representatives of Central Methodist University in Fayette and citizen advocates who visited to the Capitol to discuss disability issues. I also had the honor of hosting career and technical education students involved in the FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America), who job-shadowed legislators this week.

We’ve reached a point in the legislative session when many of the less-controversial bills have moved forward and negotiations on complex issues have begun in earnest. It’s a great time to visit the Capitol to see the legislative process unfold. If you’re considering a visit to your statehouse, I encourage you to stop by my office and introduce yourself.

As always, I appreciate hearing your comments, opinions and concerns. Please feel free to contact me in Jefferson City at (573) 751-4302. You may also email me at Denny.Hoskins@senate.mo.gov.