Turbulent final week mars 2025 legislative session

Local representatives agree the Missouri General Assembly’s 2025 session was largely a productive one – particularly compared to last year – but was not without its challenges, which largely cropped up in the final week.

In all, the legislature passed 67 bills in this session, which adjourned a day early on May 15. Sixteen of those were appropriation bills that comprise the roughly $53 billion budget sent May 9 for Gov. Mike Kehoe to review. Last year, only 46 bills were passed, with 18 of those being budgetary bills. The 28 remaining bills were considered by state officials as a modern-day low.

“Last year, we passed about seven House bills outside of the budget bills that made it all the way to the governor’s desk, and I think we passed somewhere in the mid-20s this year,” said Rep. Alex Riley, R-Springfield, who served this year as the majority floor leader in the House. “So, a much more productive session overall.”

Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, agreed.

“I spend the vast majority of my time working on and writing the state budget with my committee,” he said. “We turned out a pretty good product this year. It’s arguably better than the last few years because the dynamics not only in my chamber but in the House have changed.”

Hough said education has been a priority of his time in the Senate, noting this year’s budget includes $303 million for full funding of the K-12 foundation formula and a 3% increase in higher education core funding for schools such as Missouri State University and Ozarks Technical Community College.

Additionally, Hough added a $30 million earmark that calls for one-to-one matching funds for a convention and event center in the Queen City. Springfield city officials say they are committed to providing the match, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.

“Gov. Kehoe still has to take action on the budget,” he said, noting the governor has line-item veto authority.

Some of the other major spending items in the budget include the following::

• $107 million to revamp the child care payment system so providers receive their money at the beginning of each month for the children enrolled in their center.
• $50 million to expand the number of children served by the MOScholars program, which helps parents pay tuition at private and parochial schools.

A highlight for Riley in this year’s session was Kehoe signing into law an omnibus crime package that contains numerous crime-reduction measures, including increased penalties for organized crime groups who steal merchandise from Missouri businesses. The legislation makes organized retail theft a Class C felony if the value of the property, along with property damage, falls between $750 and $10,000. The charge increases to a Class B felony if the value exceeds $10,000.

He also praised the passage of House Bill 94, a wide-ranging tax-cut package that would eliminate the state tax on capital gains. The bill’s fiscal note estimates the change could reduce state revenue in the first year by $430 million. In future years, the bill is estimated to reduce state revenue by roughly $340 million.

“We passed major tax cuts and tax reform for the people of our state with a big capital gains tax cut bill that we think will help spur investment and economic development and opportunity,” Riley said. “That was a big win that we got done this year, and at the same time, that same bill eliminated sales taxes on diapers and feminine hygiene products.”

Bill inaction
This year’s budget didn’t include House Bill 19, which contained over $500 million in spending for construction projects across the state. The House chose to not vote on the bill, which caught many politicians by surprise.

Hough said he was one of those caught off guard. 

“I am wildly disappointed that the decision was made by what I believe is a very small group of people to sideline $513 million worth of spending projects,” he said.

Funding in the bill included $55 million in upgrades to the Missouri State Fair, $48 million toward the construction of a 200-bed mental health hospital and local expenditures, such as $1.5 million for Boys & Girls Clubs of Springfield.

Amber Alcorn, director of strategic communication for Boys & Girls Clubs of Springfield, said via email the impact to the local nonprofit totals $2.7 million. She said that comprises $1.5 million that was expected for its capital campaign for The Risdal Family Teen Center for Great Futures, currently under construction along the Grant Avenue Parkway, as well as its share of $8 million in planned funding for Boys & Girls Clubs chapters across Missouri.

Riley said in the five years he’s been a member of the House, it’s been a priority to leave a significant amount of money in reserve. The current general revenue reserve balance is around $1.3 billion, he said, adding state revenue projections are a bit uncertain.

“In that rainy-day fund, we’ve always left at least $1 billion on the bottom line. And the problem with how the budget process played out this year is it ultimately resulted in an operating budget that was higher than we wanted it to be,” he said, noting keeping it above $1 billion was the fiscally responsible thing to do. “We wanted to make sure that we were not going to be essentially dipping into the rainy-day fund to pay for these projects.”

While Rep. Betsy Fogle, D-Springfield, in her fifth legislative year in Jefferson City, said the House maintained a “pretty good level of decorum” during the session, the HB 19 inaction – followed by the Senate Republicans’ repeal of provisions for Proposition A and placing abortion restriction back on the ballot – negated a lot of goodwill. (See the separate story on Proposition A on page 21.)

“I know that created a lot of frustration for me as ranking member on budget and a lot of frustration for my caucus,” Fogle said of the HB 19 nonvote. “It is fair to say that though this was the most well-run legislative session, the last week was probably the hardest week I’ve had in the general assembly as well. I think both of those things are true.”

Back in action
Legislators will be back in Jefferson City soon, as Kehoe said May 16 he plans to call a special session to debate providing tax breaks to keep the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals in the state. He introduced the plan late in the session to use tax generated by the two sports organizations to finance bonds for their stadiums. While the House approved the proposal by a 108-40 vote, the Senate didn’t vote on the measure before it adjourned May 14.

No date for the special session has been announced by Kehoe, but it is expected to be next month before the June 30 deadline to sign the annual budget. Hough said he is among politicians who’d like to see the capital spending of House Bill 19 – even if in a pared down version – as part of the session.

Fogle said the governor might have to make some concessions along the way if he wants to see the stadium funding approved.

“There are people on both sides of the aisle who are uncomfortable spending taxpayer dollars on stadiums,” she said.

Chamber reflection
Lauren Shantz, vice president of public affairs for Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, said the Proposition A repeal “is clearly something big that we were really excited to see.” She said the chamber also is always happy to see large investments in higher education and K-12 funding. Additionally, the organization was pleased that lawmakers passed House Bill 419 and Senate Bill 160, which, if signed by Kehoe, would remove the University of Missouri’s exclusive authority to grant research doctorates and certain professional degrees.

“The act authorizes Missouri State University to grant doctor of philosophy degrees in disciplines other than engineering and to grant bachelor of science degrees in veterinary technology,” according to the bills’ language.

Williams and Clarenda Phillips, MSU’s incoming provost, would work with members of the university community to identify programs that can be developed into doctoral degrees, said Emily Letterman, public relations strategist for MSU. Letterman noted funding and timelines for those degrees would depend on which programs are selected.

According to SBJ archives, the basis of restriction came from MSU’s approved name change in 2006, when it agreed not to offer engineering programs and doctoral programs unless they were in cooperation with the University of Missouri-Columbia

“Seeing that get done when there’s been some significant roadblocks on that previously is a testament to Missouri State and everyone who’s working on that, and of course our lawmakers in leadership who were able to get that across the finish line,” Shantz said. “That’s going to be a huge workforce piece for this area.”

Among chamber disappointments, Shantz said legislation to increase income eligibility for the Fast Track Workforce Incentive Grant, a financial aid program for adults aimed at addressing employment needs, and child care tax credits, failed to gain enough traction during the session. The tax credit package to increase the capacity of child care providers and help businesses offer child care benefits to support employee retention and attraction was passed in the House but was blocked in the Senate.

“I don’t think anyone’s claiming the tax credits would be a silver bullet, but it was a step in the right direction,” Shantz said.

Fogle calls the tax credits as tools in a toolbox that make sure families have safe and affordable places to leave their kids during the day.

“There’s a group of the majority [party] who does not view that the state should play any role in assisting parents to work outside of the home through child care assistance,” Fogle said. “I think that hard-line group is one of the reasons that this bill has not come to fruition the last few years.”

While local officials say the tumultuous finish to this month’s work in the Capitol might make work tense between Democrats and Republicans, Riley said there’s always unfinished business that needs attention.

“Even as successful as this year was, there are still things to accomplish,” he said. “The way the Senate session ended will create some challenging dynamics in the future, but every session has challenging dynamics, and we will just do our best to find ways to navigate those and get some good wins done for our state.”

Digital Editor Geoff Pickle contributed.