Gov. Mike Kehoe called a special session of the Legislature beginning June 2 to consider St. Louis disaster relief; a proposal for the state to help fund new stadiums for the Chiefs and Royals to keep the teams in Missouri; and other spending items for major capital improvement projects. Under the Missouri Constitution, lawmakers have 60 days to complete work on items in a special session.

Invite them out for coffee or a steak? Make sure you know the gift restrictions of your state or municipality. Request a demo of our online guidebooks today.

The first regular session of the 103rd General Assembly adjourned on May 15. Lawmakers passed a total of 67 bills this year, 16 of which were budget bills. Last year’s total was 46. Among the bills awaiting the governor’s signature is Senate Bill 152, banning foreign spending on ballot issue campaigns. The bill also prohibits committees from knowingly receiving, soliciting, or accepting contributions or expenditures from a prohibited source, defined as contributions from or expenditures by a foreign national made with the intent to use such funds to influence an election on a ballot measure. The bill also requires committees to file a certificate declaring no preliminary activity was funded, directly or indirectly, by a prohibited source.

Voters in Missouri overwhelmingly passed Amendment 7 with 68.5% of the vote.

The amendment states only U.S. citizens 18 years or older can vote and prohibits the state or local governments from allowing non-citizen voting.

The amendment also prohibits ranked-choice voting by establishing each voter has one vote per issue or open seat; and requires plurality primary elections, where one winner advances to the general election.

The constitutional amendment will be effective 30 days after the election.

Republican Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe won the race to become the state’s 58th governor, beating Democrat Crystal Quade by 20.5%.

Kehoe is a 62-year-old former Jefferson City car dealer, state senator, and current lieutenant governor.

Gov. Mike Parson issued an executive order to rescind executive orders of previous governors.

Executive Order 24-11 rescinds 177 orders dating back to the 1980s after Parsons determined them to be no longer necessary or applicable.

It is now common practice for executive orders to be issued with a specific date of rescission so they do not linger in effect unnecessarily.

Parson did not rescind Executive Order 18-10, which continues to prohibit executive branch employees from knowingly soliciting or accepting any gift from a lobbyist.

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Missouri’s 2-year revolving door restriction violates the First Amendment.

On appeal from the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Missouri, former state Rep Rocky Miller and General Assembly employee John La Vanchy prevailed in Miller v. Ziegler, invalidating the ban.

The ban was enacted in 2018 and prohibited any person serving as a member of or employed by the General Assembly from acting or serving as a paid lobbyist, registering as a paid lobbyist, or soliciting prospective employers or clients to represent as a paid lobbyist during the time of their service until the expiration of two calendar years after the conclusion of the session of the General Assembly in which the member or employee last served.

The second regular session of the 102nd General Assembly adjourned sine die as of midnight May 30, in accordance with the constitution.

Lawmakers passed a campaign finance bill permitting committees to use credit cards and debit cards authorized and paid for through the official depository account.

Previously expenditures could only be made by check.

The first regular session of the 102nd Missouri General Assembly concluded after passing only 43 policy bills, the lowest number passed by a General Assembly in more than two decades, not counting the pandemic-limited session in 2020. The speaker declared the session adjourned sine die as of midnight May 30, in accordance with the constitution. The Legislature could not agree on a plan to legalize sports betting or to make it more difficult for citizens to change the state constitution through initiative petitions.

Senate President Pro-Tem Caleb Rowden introduced a substitute for Senate Bill 378, which changes lobbyist and campaign finance reporting and creates a local lobbyist gift ban.

The new substitute for Senate Bill 378 changes the reporting required by lobbyists from monthly expenditure reports to an annual expenditure report filed on December 31, or if December thirty-first is a Saturday or Sunday, on the last Friday of the calendar year.

The bill also changes campaign finance reporting, deadlines and late fees.

The bill raises the threshold for expenditures required to be itemized on a disclosure report from $100 or less to $200 or less and provides for an annual increase based on the increase in the cost of living.

The bill changes filing deadlines by requiring anything filed electronically to be filed by 11:59 p.m. of the due date.

Under current law, if the last day of filing any campaign finance disclosure report falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or an official state holiday the deadline is extended to 5:00 p.m. of the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or official state holiday.

In addition, the bill requires all committees to be charged $100 per day in late fees for campaign finance reports required to be filed 8 days prior to an election.

Under current law, this only applies to candidate committees.

The bill also increases the fine for all other late campaign finance reports to $20 per day late fee, rather than $10 per day as required by current law, and fees will be increased annually on January 1, based on the increase in the cost of living.

The bill also prohibits any person serving as or employed by an elected local government official from accepting directly or indirectly a gift of any tangible or intangible item, service, or thing of value from any paid lobbyist or lobbyist principle.

If passed, the bill will become effective August 28, 2023.

Missouri voters were overwhelmingly against holding a constitutional convention.

The question automatically appears on the ballot every 20 years, and with 96% of the precincts reporting, 67% voted against holding a convention to revise and amend the constitution, while only 32% voted in favor of holding a convention.

The special session of the Missouri Legislature adjourned sine die on October 4.

Lawmakers passed three bills during the special session to implement income tax cuts and tax incentives for the agriculture industry.

Gov. Mike Parson is holding a press conference October 5 to sign House Bill 3 and Senate bills 3 and 5.

The Missouri Office of Administration announced restrictions on public access to bid documents in order to comply with the Personal Privacy Protection Act, established by the passage of Senate Substitute for House Bill 2400.

The act prohibits public agencies from requiring any 501(c) entity to share the identities of donors, volunteers, or supporters and closes any public agency record or list containing the identity of supporters.

The Office of Administration removed all bid and contract records from MissouriBUYS and the document portal.

New contract awards will be reviewed and redacted to ensure compliance before posting. Older records will be reviewed and redacted before being reposted.

The special session of the Missouri Legislature scheduled to begin on September 6, has been postponed until September 14.

Lawmakers need more time to deliver on Gov. Mike Parson’s plan for income tax cuts and tax incentives for the agriculture industry.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson called a special session of the Legislature beginning September 6 to pass income tax credits and agricultural tax credits.

Parson hopes the special session will end quickly and a bill containing his proposal could clear the Senate and be sent to the House by the veto session, scheduled for September 14.