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In an order Tuesday, the court modified an earlier ruling with November vote to ‘accommodate the governor’s apparent desire’ for a vote on the same day as the primary election
Rudi Keller
Missouri Independent Reporter
Missouri will have two constitutional amendments on the Aug. 6 primary ballot, one to grant tax exemptions for childcare facilities and another to rerun a 2022 election result on police funding thrown out by the state Supreme Court.
Gov. Mike Parson said Tuesday that he would put the two proposals from the General Assembly on the primary ballot.
The first, passed last year, would exempt property, aside from the child’s home, from taxation. Most of the income loss would be to local governments, the ballot summary estimates, with a loss to the state Blind Pension fund of about $400,000 annually.
The second measure on the ballot, originally passed by lawmakers in 2022 and approved that year by voters with a 63% majority, gives lawmakers the power to force Kansas City to spend 25% of its city budget on policing.
The Supreme Court in April ruled that the summary of the financial cost of the police amendment was misleading and ignored estimates from the city that it would cost about $38 million to add that much to the police budget.
The court ordered a new election.
Kansas City has the only police department in the state that is run by a Board of Police Commissioners appointed by the governor.
There are two other constitutional amendments proposed by lawmakers awaiting a ballot and the lack of action Tuesday means voters will see those proposals in November. One of those measures would ban ranked-choice voting and restate the ban, in place since 1924, on voting by non-citizens. The other would allow the courts to add costs and fees to cases and use the money to support sheriffs’ and prosecutors’ retirement funds.
Three initiative petitions proposing constitutional amendment are undergoing signature verification and could also put abortion rights, sports wagering and a new casino license before voters.
Rudi Keller covers the state budget and the legislature. A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, he spent 22 of his 32 years in journalism covering Missouri government and politics for the Columbia Daily Tribune, where he won awards for spot news and investigative reporting.
Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization
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