Missouri Press Association
Serving Missouri Newspapers Since 1867
The following is a legislative update from Clarkston Nelson, LLC concerning the Missouri General Assembly’s 2026 legislative session. Use the information within to develop local coverage of issues important to your readers.
Activity at the Capitol this week was highlighted by significant progress on the state budget, as the Senate Appropriations Committee completed its work on the FY27 proposal. Meanwhile, legislators continued advancing policy priorities across committees and on the floor. Notably, the Senate also passed Governor Kehoe’s proposed income tax phase-out. As the session enters its final stretch, committee activity is expected to begin slowing as focus shifts toward floor debate and final passage of legislation.
A long day of Senate floor activity on Wednesday resulted in an amended House Joint Resolution 173 & 174 being third read and passed by the Senate by a narrow margin of 18-11, shortly after midnight early Thursday morning. The constitutional amendment, if on the ballot this fall and passed by the public, would replace Missouri’s income tax with a broader sales tax. The resolution is a priority of Governor Mike Kehoe. The 18 yes votes represent the majority needed to pass legislation in the 34-member Senate. Opposing the HJR were three Republicans and eight Democrats.
Sen. Joe Nicola (R-Grain Valley), who voted against the resolution, said the plan to replace income tax with an expanded sales tax that could be imposed on any goods or services, puts the state in a potentially dangerous financial position, and implementation, if passed by voters, will dominate legislative debates for years to come. The Senate's version of the resolution that passed removes automatic triggers for tax rate cuts and the target date for eliminating the income tax. Instead, it directs lawmakers to set tax cut triggers if the amendment receives voter approval and gives the General Assembly a five-year window to decide which goods and services would be taxable.
Budget Update
The Senate Appropriations Committee dedicated two days this week to completing full markup of the FY27 budget, reviewing departmental budgets, and making targeted adjustments to align spending with updated revenue expectations and program utilization. A significant focus was placed on education funding, where the committee adopted a Senate position to stabilize the foundation formula by reallocating approximately $118.9 million from the State Capital Commission Fund while reducing reliance on lottery and other volatile funding streams to ensure more predictable support for school districts. Additional education-related changes included reductions tied to prior-year lapses in pre-K and career ladder programs, as well as smaller one-time investments in tutoring, literacy, and workforce pipeline initiatives. In higher education, the committee largely reverted to the Governor’s recommended core funding levels for institutions, signaling a priority on maintaining baseline operational stability while limiting new spending growth.
Across other areas of the budget, the committee implemented a mix of reductions, fund shifts, and one-time appropriations, including cuts to certain administrative and IT line items, transfers of funding and FTEs to better align with departmental responsibilities, and updates to transportation and capital projects based on revised expenditure data. The committee also continued to phase out federal emergency funding streams, such as ESSER, reflecting their expiration. After two days of markup, members finalized budget language and flexibility provisions, including the removal or modification of select policy language, before voting out House Bills 2002 through 2013. Most bills passed with strong support, though a few saw split votes or abstentions, reflecting ongoing policy and funding disagreements as the budget advances to Senate floor debate.
Distributing Harmful Material to Minors on the Internet
The Senate Committee on General Laws convened Wednesday afternoon to discuss passage of HB 1839, sponsored by Representatives Sherri Gallick (R-Belton). The bill requires websites that have more than 33% of their published material deemed harmful to minors to verify if a person is at least 18 years old. Additionally, the bill excludes bona fide news sites or public broadcasts and prohibits the retention of any identifying information of an individual. Finally, the bill outlines the civil penalties. With no discussion, the committee passed the bill by a 5-0 vote.
Election Notices Bill Moving in Senate
On Monday afternoon, the Senate Local Government, Elections, and Pensions Committee conducted a hearing on House Committee Substitute for House Bill 1871, sponsored by Rep. Peggy McGaugh (R-Carrollton), an elections bill. The bill seeks to reorganize and update Missouri’s election statutes by repealing and rewriting multiple sections that govern various aspects of election administration, procedures, and rules. The bill allows a county clerk to mail election notices to all registered voters in their county and, if notices are mailed, a newspaper in that county would publish the election notice once instead of two times. Also, election notices would be published within six weeks of an election, rather than within one week before the election. In other portions of the bill, it allows for election notification to be delivered to election authorities by email; allows bond elections to be considered final if no election contest has been brought before the time period expired after the election; advances the filing dates for offices in political subdivisions and special districts by one week; addresses paid tax reporting requirements for candidates in St Louis City; sets which days public elections must be held; re-enacts voter registration eligibility and registration processes; includes absentee ballot procedures; makes changes to voter identification; maintains the in-person no-excuse absentee voting period to two weeks before an election; and all lists of absentee ballot applications for people with permanent disabilities will be kept confidential and must not be posted or displayed in an area open to the general public nor shown to any unauthorized person. Testifying in support of the bill were the League of Women Voters of Missouri, the Missouri Municipal League, the Missouri County Clerks & Election Authorities Association, the Missouri Municipal League of Metropolitan St. Louis, the Missouri Association of Counties, Doug Crews of the Missouri Press Association, and the chief of staff of the State Auditor’s Office. The committee took no action on the bill.
Newspapers’ Legal Publication Requirements
On Monday afternoon, the Senate Local Government, Elections, and Pensions Committee voted “do pass” on Senate Committee Substitute for House Bill 1940, sponsored by Rep. Peggy McGaugh (R-Carrollton), legislation that changes the length of time for successor newspapers and newly established newspapers to be considered legal newspapers for publishing public notices in their communities. The committee vote was 5-0. Currently, to qualify as a newspaper to publish public notices, a newspaper must have been published regularly for a period of three years or must be the successor newspaper to a non-active newspaper that restarts publication no later than 30 days after the termination of the prior newspaper. HB 1940 reduces the regular publication period from three years to one year and increases the time from 30 days to 90 days for a successor newspaper to begin publication. The bill also allows a newspaper that has been purchased or newly established by another newspaper that already satisfies these conditions to qualify. The Senate Committee Substitute changed the title of the bill from “relating to newspapers” to “relating to publication of notices,” and added provisions in Senate Bill 1094, an election notices bill sponsored by Sen. Sandy Crawford (R-Buffalo). The bill requires a county clerk to publish notice of an election twice in at least two qualified newspapers within six weeks before the election. If a county clerk mails the election notice to the county’s registered voters, then the notice will be published only once. Missouri Press Association is concerned about the title change of the bill.
Anti-SLAPP Bill Moving in House
On Wednesday afternoon, the House Judiciary Committee in executive session voted “do pass” on House Bill 2666, sponsored by Rep. Ben Keathley (R-Chesterfield), a bill establishing the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act. The committee vote was 8-4. The bill relates to causes of action filed against people who exercise certain constitutional rights. The legislation is also known as anti-SLAPP (anti-Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation). The bill specifies that, when a person, defined in the bill as "an individual, estate, trust, partnership, business or nonprofit entity, governmental unit, or other legal entity,” has a cause of action filed against the person based upon the person's communication in a governmental meeting or proceeding or on an issue under consideration in a governmental meeting or proceeding, or when the person exercises the person's right of freedom of speech or of the press, the right to assemble, or the right of association, that person may file a special motion to dismiss the cause of action. The bill establishes procedures for such special motions to be dismissed. The bill specifies under which circumstances a court may award costs, reasonable attorneys' fees, and reasonable litigation expenses. The provisions of the bill apply to civil actions filed on or after Aug. 28, 2026. The bill is similar to Senate Bill 1067, sponsored by Sen. Mike Henderson (R-Desloge), which passed the Senate, 31-0, and was reported to the House on April 2.
Expungement
The Senate Committee on Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence convened on Wednesday morning to discuss passage of HB 2747, sponsored by Representative Bishop Davidson (R-Republic). The bill modifies the expungement process by providing automatic, technologically enabled, expungements for non-violent offenders who are already eligible. It also clarifies that only unanimous juries can sentence capital punishment. During executive session, committee members adopted a committee substitute modifying the title in order to include SB 1150, which creates the offense of masked intimidation. As modified, the committee passed the bill by a 4-0 vote.
Independence School Board
The House Special Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs convened Monday evening to discuss passage of SB 1351, sponsored by Senator Joe Nicola (R-Lee’s Summit). The bill modifies the length school board members may serve for the Independence School District from six years to three years. Additionally, the bill contains a provision that schools may not count a student absent if they are with a parent or guardian who is exercising their right to vote. During discussion, a House Committee Substitute was adopted which added provisions regarding the teaching of cursive writing and an optional drivers’ education course. It also includes provisions regarding the Media Literacy and Critical Thinking Act. Once modified, the committee passed the bill by an 11-1 vote.
Drones
The House committee on Emerging Issues convened Monday evening to consider passage of SB 1421, sponsored by Senator Nick Schroer (R-O'Fallon). The bill establishes restrictions on the use of drones over open-air facilities and critical infrastructure, making it unlawful to operate drones within designated airspace or to use them to deliver contraband or facilitate criminal activity. The measure provides exemptions for authorized individuals, including facility operators, government personnel, emergency responders, utilities, and lawful commercial operators acting in compliance with federal regulations. It also grants trained law enforcement authority to detect, track, disrupt, and, when necessary, disable drones that pose credible threats to public safety or security, with seized drones subject to forfeiture. With no discussion, the committee passed the bill by an 8-3 vote.
Income Tax Repeal Ballot Question
The Senate spent time Wednesday evening debating HJR 173, a proposed constitutional amendment sponsored by Representative Bishop Davidson (R-Republic) that would be placed before Missouri voters in the November 2026 election. The measure seeks to gradually eliminate the state’s individual income tax by 2032, tying incremental rate reductions to growth in net general revenue collections. To make up for the loss in income tax revenue, the proposal would allow lawmakers to expand sales and use taxes to additional goods and services, while requiring corresponding reductions in certain local taxes to prevent an overall increase in tax burden. The resolution also includes safeguards intended to protect funding for public schools and would prohibit the state from reinstating an individual income tax once it has been fully eliminated. During debate, Senator Curtis Trent (R-Springfield) offered a Senate substitute for HJR 173 that differs from the original proposal by changing how the income tax would be eliminated. Rather than establishing an automatic, formula-driven phase-out tied to revenue growth with specific triggers, inflation adjustments, and a 2032 deadline, the substitute requires the General Assembly to enact legislation to reduce the top income tax rate over time until it is eliminated. It also removes the original proposal’s detailed revenue-trigger mechanisms and ongoing adjustment formulas, replacing them with a more flexible, legislature-driven approach, and shifts local tax offsets from recurring adjustments to a one-time reduction tied to new revenue. Senator Mike Moon (R-Ash Grove) also offered an amendment to modify the scope of taxable goods and services, but it was not adopted. The Senate ultimately adopted the Senate substitute without changes and passed the resolution by an 18-11 vote, sending it back to the House for consideration of the Senate revisions.
Motion Media Production Tax Credits
On Wednesday afternoon, the full House brought up for perfection House Committee Substitute for House Bill 2142 & 2058, sponsored by Rep. Colin Wellenkamp (R-St. Charles), legislation to help fund motion media production projects in Missouri. The bill was perfected and printed by voice vote, and another House vote is needed to move the bill to the Senate. The bill changes the amount of tax credits authorized for film or series production from $8 million dollars per year for film production and $8 million dollars per year for series production to $16 million per year total to be used for either film production or series production. The program has an automatic sunset of Dec. 31, 2029, which was not changed.
School Athletic Association Governing Boards
The Senate devoted floor time Monday afternoon to revisit SB 863, sponsored by Senator Jason Bean (R-Holcomb). The bill establishes an “Interscholastic Athletic Oversight Commission” to hear certain appeals related to decisions made by statewide school activities associations, including those involving student eligibility and contest procedures. The commission, appointed by the governor, would operate within the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and serve as a final authority on such appeals, with decisions binding on the activities association. The bill also requires associations to provide annual reports to the legislature and authorizes the commission to recommend rule changes, while directing the department to adopt rules ensuring a fair and timely appeals process. With no debate, the Senate passed the bill by a 20-8 vote, sending it to the House for further consideration.
House-Corrections and Public Institutions
4/20/26 2:30 PM
Committee Hearing, HR 3
SB863 Bean - Establishes the "Interscholastic Athletic Oversight Commission", a board of directors appointed by the Governor to hear appeals of certain decisions made by statewide activities associations
