Unlike the previous three sessions, the Missouri Legislature worked steadfastly and found common ground on numerous issues throughout the session. Over the last nineteen weeks the House and Senate worked to pass a $52.8 billion state operating budget, 67 bills, and successfully confirmed numerous cabinet positions for recently elected Governor Mike Kehoe (R).
For the 2025 session, 2,439 bills and 196 resolutions were filed between the House and Senate. Many would think that the passage of only 67 bills would not be considered a success, but those observing the process would disagree as many of the bills on the Governor’s desk contain provisions from numerous bills and not just the sections filed initially by the bill sponsor.
Just like the past few years, the Senate adjourned ahead of schedule and thus we did not stay in session until the final hours on Friday May 16th at 6:00 pm.
The Missouri Senate reached an impasse in negotiations on two major priority bills as conversations broke down and differences could not be resolved between the House and Senate Democrat leadership on legislation dealing with two recently passed citizen initiatives on last November’s ballot. Those measures were Proposition A (minimum wage and paid sick leave) and Amendment 3 (abortion restrictions). The Senate Republican Majority elected to use a seldomly deployed cloture tactic to cut off a Senate filibuster of the abortion debate and immediately take up and pass HJR 73, which will place a differing question before the voters on abortion restrictions. Immediately after the vote on HJR 73, the Senate majority used the cloture motion again and passed House Bill 567, which rolled back Prop A’s paid sick leave law and repealed the CPI inflator on the state minimum wage law for future years. Upon passage of these two bills, the Senate abruptly adjourned for the year and elected to forgo the final two remaining days of session.
It is unknown what lasting effects the use of the cloture motion will have on how the Senate operates in the near future, as many Senators left the Capitol extremely upset and holding contempt toward the decision to shut off debate.
The Legislature may not have much time to enjoy the adjournment of the 2025 session as Governor Mike Kehoe has mentioned in the media that he may be calling them back for a Special Session in the weeks ahead to address an issue left unresolved related to state assistance in the financing of new stadiums in the Kansas City region for the professional sports teams. Both the Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals are looking at sites and plans for new stadiums and have received offers from differing locations including the state of Kansas. We expect the Governor to make his best effort to keep both teams in Missouri and this will be no easy task as many of the conservative members of the General Assembly are not excited about using public dollars on private sports teams.
Unless legislation provides an effective date, all bills become effective on August 28, 2025. The Governor will receive most of the bills on May 31st as that is the official date of adjournment per the state constitution of the legislative session. From that point, the Governor has 45 days to act and thus all bills will be signed or vetoed by July 14, 2025.
Regarding state operating budget bills, the Governor must act by the end of June as the new fiscal year starts on July 1st. The Missouri constitution allows for the Governor to line item veto any part of the operating budget.
Key Dates
- June 30, 2025 – Final day for Governor to sign or line-item veto budget
- July 1, 2025 – First day of new fiscal year
- July 14, 2025 – Last day for Governor to sign or veto policy legislation
- August 28, 2025 – Effective date for policy bills without an emergency clause
- September 10, 2025 – Veto Session
- December 1, 2025 – First day of bill filing for 2026 session
- January 7, 2026 – First day of the 2026 Legislative session
Budget Update
The General Assembly finished their work on the budget and sent a $52.8B budget to the Governor on May 9. The House failed to pass HB 19, a $513M capital improvements bill, indicating the House was more comfortable with a general revenue balance in reserve of $1.3B instead of $800M. HB 19 is comprised of several brick and mortar projects including $50M for the University of Missouri nuclear reactor project, upgrades to the Missouri State Fair grounds, several National Guard projects, a mental health hospital, railroad crossing projects, and flood plain planning. The budget now moves to Governor Kehoe for his review and implementation. The state’s fiscal year starts July 1.
The Governor has many decisions to make with his line-item veto authority in light of a proposed capital gains cut which impacts general revenue ($300-400M) in future years, the uncertainty of action at the federal level regarding Medicaid payments and a dwindling general revenue cash reserve (approximately $1.3B).
Items that highlight the budget include:
- Full funding of the K-12 foundation formula-adding $303M
- Full funding of K-12 school transportation
- $50M to the Empowerment Scholarship Account program
- Raises for state employees based on years of service
- $170 million in additional funding for childcare payment upgrades
- $84 million for Access Missouri scholarships for low-income students
- $60 million for A+ merit-based scholarships
- $20 million for preparations of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Kansas City
- $10 million for a new Blue Shield grant program to incentivize local law enforcement agencies to improve crime-fighting efforts
- 3% increase in higher education core funding