Council looks to streamline meaty list of legislative priorities

Springfield City Council is examining its draft list of priorities for the upcoming Missouri legislative session, and it’s a big one.

That makes things tricky for the city’s lobbyist, Will Marrs of Governmental Services Group Inc.

“We get spread thin up there,” Marrs told council during a lunch presentation yesterday.

The bullet-point list under consideration includes six priorities labeled “general” and 12 labeled “specific.”

One problem with a fulsome list of goals is that the legislature isn’t very productive. In the 2025 session, Marrs noted, 2,678 bills were filed, but only 67 made it to the governor’s desk, and 20 of those were appropriations or budget bills.

This is despite the fact that the Republican Party holds supermajorities in both legislative chambers.

“So really you effectively had 47ish pieces of policy that actually made it to the governor despite the supermajority,” Marrs said. “This trend that we’ve seen has been pretty out of whack for about 10 years where less than 100 bills are actually going to the governor’s desk.”

Marrs’ forecast for the 2026 session is that there will be continued infighting.

“I think any hopes of getting anything miraculous passed this upcoming session is pretty unlikely,” he said. “We’re looking at another year of trying to get a few bills cobbled together in these larger omnibus packages that are 100-page bills or more and hoping to get a few things across the finish line.”

‘Banner year’
Despite the slow churn in Jefferson City, Marrs gave high marks to the Queen City’s performance in the last legislative session.

“This was a fantastic year for Springfield,” he said. “I think it was probably a banner year for Springfield.”

Marrs cited the appropriations process, which netted gains for the city, and the passage of nuisance language that he believes will help with the city’s continued development.

Funding highlights cited by Marrs included an $8 million reappropriation for the Jefferson Avenue Footbridge, $3.4 million for LeCompte Road improvements, $750,000 for the Springfield Art Museum, $500,000 for the Greene County court system and $6 million for redevelopment and expansion of Missouri Route MM.

“Obviously, the elephant in the room is the convention center,” he said, citing the $30 million appropriated by the legislature but withheld by the governor for possible release later. “We’ve had some productive conversations.”

Marrs warned that outside funding available to cities is likely to decrease in the future as American Rescue Plan Act funds disappear.

“As that ARPA money starts to go away entirely, there’s really not going to be the same level of federal funds paired with state funding, so we’re looking at tighter budget years moving forward,” he said.

Additionally, some tax cuts that have been approved by the legislature will soon begin to be felt, according to Marrs.

“To be able to get some of this through in the 2025 session has been phenomenal,” he said.

Leaner list proposed
Councilmember Derek Lee advocated for a leaner list of legislative priorities.

As an example of a possible trim, Lee pointed to a bullet item declaring the city’s support for full funding of the Ozarks Transportation Organization’s multiyear transportation improvement program.

Lee said the city has had real success in getting road projects funded, and he asked Marrs for his opinion about making support of OTO one of its legislative priorities. Marrs also serves as OTO’s lobbyist, Lee noted.

Marrs said if an OTO project makes sense for the city to support, it should do so.

City Manager David Cameron suggested removing a priority related to municipal court functions, including calls for reinstatement of a procedure to compel traffic violation defendants to appear in court, more clarity in allowing courts to issue bench warrants and allowing community service in lieu of traditional sentencing.

Deputy City Manager Collin Quigley said the court is not having issues and is OK with removing those items.

“This is a great example of if we could streamline it, it keeps us from trying to file too many bills,” Marrs said.

Cameron also suggested removing a priority related to chronic nuisance properties and unsafe buildings, and Councilmember Brandon Jenson agreed, noting the city has the tools it needs to effectively address these.

Jenson said he would want to make sure the city was providing targeted resources to the Neighborhood Advisory Council so they understand their ability to bring action under state statutes. He also suggested the city use receivership, an existing tool for implementation of its code, more frequently.

Councilmember Monica Horton suggested removing a priority that called for state enforcement of vehicle registration, since the city’s towing ordinance is proving to be effective.

Cameron suggested council members provide his office with revision suggestions, and he will prepare an updated list of priorities after input is received.

In an interview following the meeting, Marrs said despite friction in Jefferson City, this was one of the better sessions he has experienced.

“I didn’t have anything that was a major gut-punch that affected the city negatively,” he said.

Marrs said he’s a lobbyist, but he’s also a citizen, and that made the legislative session hard to watch, especially when it resorted to the rarely used “previous question” parliamentary procedure to force votes on bills. This was used by the Senate to repeal Proposition A, which was approved by Missouri voters Nov. 5, 2024, to provide paid sick leave and minimum wage increases. The same procedure was used with House Joint Resolution 73 to prohibit abortions by reversing 2024’s Amendment 3.

“This is going on about a decade of dysfunction, and seeing it collapse and seeing the Senate devolve into using the previous question option – regardless of how you feel about that issue, I don’t think that is how we should be debating these major issues,” he said.

The next legislative session starts Jan. 8, with the deadline for prefiling of bills set for Dec. 2. Council plans to hold another meeting to refine its legislative priority list with the hope of finalizing it by October.