Several Missouri House committees on Tuesday advanced bills that would provide $100 million in storm relief for St. Louis and help fund new stadiums for the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals.
Members of the Economic Development Committee advanced the stadium bill 11-2, while the Budget Committee passed the funding bill 28-0.
Both bills, as well as another piece of legislation, will be up for debate on the House floor on Wednesday. If the House leaves those bills unchanged, they will then go to Gov. Mike Kehoe, who is expected to sign them.
Last week, the Senate passed all three bills after hours of debate.
$100M in storm relief for St. Louis
Members of the House Budget Committee voted to advance a budget bill that contains $100 million for tornado relief for St. Louis.
It includes $25 million to go to the Missouri Housing Trust Fund. That money would go toward storm aid, including housing subsidy grants or loans.
Money from that fund will go to not only areas that experienced storm damage from the May tornado, but from storms that occurred in March and April as well.
Senate Democrats bristled at the initial $25 million, saying it was not enough for all the areas affected by the storm.
A later version of the Senate bill added the additional $100 million for St. Louis alone.
St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer spoke in support of the legislation at the committee hearing Tuesday.
"We want these funds to be able to go back into our communities, to make our communities whole, to make our families well and to make our state succeed," Spencer said.
Spencer said some of the short-term projects the city would use this money for address housing needs.
"We're going to be putting together some grant fundings for deposits to move people into housing within the city of St. Louis so we can get them into apartments and short-term housing," Spencer said.
Spencer said St. Louis will use money from the Rams settlement for disaster relief.
Rep. Raychel Proudie, D-Ferguson, told Spencer she appreciated that St. Louis will be providing funds.
"If I may, offer to our illustrious Board of Aldermen there in the city of St. Louis, if you are waiting for a rainy day for that Rams settlement money, the rainy day happened May 16," Proudie said.
Rep. Bill Owen, R-Springfield, said responding to disasters like this is a reason the state should save money when crafting its budget.
"We've got to keep that reserve there so that we can throw in the kind of money at a general revenue that we're doing, because events like this, there's no party differential. We're all Missourians. We're all Americans, and we all want to back St. Louis 100% on this," Owens said.
When the Senate passed the legislation last week, the state was waiting on approval from President Donald Trump on Kehoe's request for a federal disaster declaration after the May 16 tornado.
On Monday, Kehoe announced that Trump signed the disaster declaration for St. Louis.
The legislation also contains funding for other statewide projects.
That includes $50 million for the Radioisotope Science Center at the University of Missouri Research Reactor, $55 million for upgrades to the Missouri State Fair and almost $50 million for a mental health hospital in Kansas City.
Stadium funding
Members of the House Economic Development Committee spent over three hours discussing the bill that contains the stadium portion.
Reception for the legislation was mainly positive from House members. Additionally, most of the people speaking on the legislation were in favor of it.
The bill allows Missouri to contribute funds for new stadiums or stadium renovations for the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals. If it passes, it would also apply to the St. Louis Cardinals.
The program provides matching funds for development and renovations by covering annual bond payments to the amount that the team is currently generating in taxes in Missouri.
"This isn't using tax dollars off of the income tax that's collected from someone that's working at Dollar General or a feed store or a fertilizer shop or a clothing store, wherever," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Kurtis Gregory, R-Marshall. "This is using the taxes that are generated at the stadiums themselves."
Through the legislation, total state dollars would not exceed 50% of total project costs.
Additionally, the measure contains a clawback provision, meaning that if a team leaves Missouri after funds are committed to a project, it will be responsible for paying back the state.
"If we were to rebuild, we would have to stay for 30 years," Chiefs lobbyist Rich AuBuchon said. "Same with the training camp, training camp would have to stay in the state of Missouri for 30 years. If we left prior to 25 years, we'd have to pay every dime back to the State of Missouri. It's a significant clawback. I've never seen one quite like that."
The cost of the program could vary depending on the size of the project, with the maximum bonded depending on how much tax revenue each team sends Missouri.
However, one estimate has the program for the Chiefs and Royals costing roughly $1.5 billion over a 30-year period.
The bill is a response to legislation passed last year by Kansas lawmakers that offers to pay 70% of the cost of building new stadiums.
Representatives from the Chiefs and Royals both spoke in favor of the legislation, calling it a competitive offer. However, neither of them said the teams would absolutely stay if Missouri passed the bill in question.
Tax legislation
In addition to the stadium portion, the bill contains legislation related to taxes.
One is an extension of a tax credit toward amateur and collegiate sports events.
Another portion allows taxpayers to claim a tax credit for an amount not exceeding $5,000 for the insurance deductible incurred by the taxpayer during the 2025 calendar year as a direct result of a disaster.
The disaster must be one for which the governor has requested a disaster declaration from the president.
The bill also contains legislation related to property tax increases.
That portion requires some Missouri counties to place on the ballot a question of whether to grant a property tax credit.
Gregory said the legislation provides options for counties related to property taxes.
Some counties, including Jackson and St. Louis, are not affected by the change.
Other counties can limit property tax liability increases to 5% or the Consumer Price Index, whichever is greater in a given year.
Another avenue through this legislation is a property tax freeze.
That portion of the bill received criticism from the Missouri National Education Association over how the new provisions would negatively affect school funding.
"Since it's the largest factor that funds our public education system, it needs to be seen as something that is functional and fair," Otto Fajen, with Missouri NEA, said.
Another criticism is that because it doesn't apply equally to counties, there could be issues with its legality.
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