Less than one month after the 2025 regular session of the Missouri General Assembly adjourned on May 15, a special session of the legislature adjourned on Wednesday, sending three bills to Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) for his signature on legislation dealing with stadium funding, disaster relief, and construction projects. Legislators entered the special session on June 2 and completed their work on June 11.
A primary purpose of the special session is to keep the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals in Missouri, as a border war has erupted with Kansas, which is trying to lure the teams and new stadiums across the river into the Sunflower State.
The proposal to provide $1.5 billion in funding for Chiefs and Royals stadiums passed the Senate by a vote of 19-13 on June 5. The House passed the stadium funding bill, 90-58. The bill, SB 3, sponsored by Sen. Kurtis Gregory (R-Marshall), allows the state to use taxes it collects from the teams to help pay off bonds used to finance stadium projects.
Several changes to amateur and collegiate sports tax credits and property tax law are also in SB 3. One of the property tax provisions in the bill allows residents in areas where the Governor has requested a federal disaster declaration to deduct their home or renter’s insurance deductible — up to $5,000 — from their state income taxes. Only victims of 2025 disasters would be eligible for the credit. Another property tax provision requires 22 counties to put before voters a ballot question asking whether the county should grant property tax credits to eligible homeowners.
SB 3 also includes a severability clause, which means that if one part of the law is found unconstitutional, the other parts can remain in place.
Other bills that were truly agreed to and finally passed on Wednesday were SB 1, sponsored by Sen. Lincoln Hough (R-Springfield), an appropriations bill for select state-owned projects not funded through general revenue (passed the Senate 23-10 and the House, 143-2) and SB 4, sponsored by Sen. Jason Bean (R-Holcomb), authorizing the expedited release of Missouri Housing Trust Fund resources for emergency aid (passed the Senate 29-4 and the House, 147-2, with an emergency clause).
In legislation passed during the special session, $50 million in general revenue was allocated to the University of Missouri-Columbia cancer research reactor project, $100 million in general revenue allocated to the Missouri Disaster Relief Fund, and $25 million for the Missouri Housing Trust Fund for aid to communities and residents impacted by recent storms and tornadoes.
Among other projects funded by special session legislation: $55 million was appropriated to build a livestock support barn and a stalling barn at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia; $13.25 million for state park and historic site capital improvements; $20.6 million appropriated to the Department of Conservation for stream access acquisition and development and other expenditures; $12.7 million for construction of a Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop E Crime Lab; and $48.16 million for a 200-bed mental health hospital in Kansas City.
The three bills passed in the special session are expected to be signed quickly by Gov. Kehoe, who is expected to leave for France on a trade mission on June 16.