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[COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR] RESOLUTION NO. 230938

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Sponsor:  Mayor Quinton Lucas

RESOLUTION - Establishing the City of Kansas City’s major legislative priorities and positions on matters for the 2024 session of the Missouri General Assembly.

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WHEREAS, the Missouri General Assembly will convene on January 3, 2024; and

WHEREAS, the City seeks to elevate local positions in statewide policy debates, which deeply impact the lives of Kansas Citians; NOW, THEREFORE,

                     BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF KANSAS CITY:

                     Section 1. MAJOR PRIORITIES. That the City adopts the following major priorities on matters that may come before the 2024 session of the Missouri General Assembly:

1.                     Earnings Tax. Oppose efforts to undermine or eliminate the Earnings Tax. Support the extension of the Earnings Tax renewal period to strengthen the City’s bond rating.

2.                     Capturing Revenue through Regulated Sports Gaming. Support legislative action to regulate sports gaming and ensure tax revenues are captured at the state and local level to support important local priorities. 

3.                     Local Decision Making. Support legislative action to return the Kansas City Police Department to local control and provide the city and its residents with equivalent control over budgeting and policy decision to every other municipality in the state. Any state-imposed funding mandate such as a minimum budget requirement for law enforcement agencies should be fulfilled with state funds, in compliance with the Missouri State Constitution.

4.                     Housing Affordability and Homelessness Prevention. Protect and expand state housing programs - like the state housing tax credit - that incentivize the production and preservation of affordable housing units, including permanent supportive housing for people exiting homelessness. Increase state support for cities and counties with higher numbers of people experiencing homelessness and/or housing cost-burden.

5.                     Expanded Support for Sport and Entertainment Facilities.  Support state incentives and investment to retain professional sports and premier entertainment facilities in the Kansas City area and to attract and retain national and international sports and entertainment events.

Section 2.  POSITIONS. That the City adopts the following positions on matters that may come before the 2024 session of the Missouri General Assembly:

Finance & Governance

•                     Access to Democracy. Legislative action that extends early voting, allows for same-day voter registration, and removes voter ID requirements.

•                     Entrepreneurial Support. Support efforts to create an Angel Investment Tax Credit program, as well as increased funding and opportunities for entrepreneurs and early-stage companies. 

•                     City Contracting. Amend Section 8.250 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, to provide an exception for charter cities so the City can continue to award contracts to the lowest and best bidder.

•                     Discriminatory Laws. Oppose legislation that would be reasonably viewed as discriminatory toward any citizen of the State of Missouri and harmful to its economy and support legislative efforts to provide additional protections under the Missouri Human Rights Act, such as the Missouri Nondiscrimination Act (MONA), to prohibit discrimination in employment and housing.

•                     Efficiency in Tax Administration. Amend Section 32.057 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri to allow cities to use sales and use tax data to enforce City taxes, so long as confidentiality is maintained.

•                     Gender Equity in Taxation. Support efforts to exempt diapers and menstrual products from sales tax.

•                     Liability Exposure. Amend Section 84.710 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri to prevent the City from having to pay and defend lawsuits in which we have no involvement. Amend Section 213.111.2 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri to exempt governments from punitive damages, from which state agencies and commissions are already exempted.

•                     Parity in Access to State Tax Refunds. Amend Section 143.782 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri to include “political subdivisions” to allow for a refund offset program with the Missouri Department of Revenue.

•                     Unnecessary Reporting Burdens. Support efforts to reduce government inefficiencies by amending Section 479.359 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri to exempt large cities from required calculation and reporting of municipal fines.

Health & Public Safety

•                     Childhood Lead Exposure. Update lead level testing requirements, based on forthcoming recommendations of the Missouri Department of Health and Social Services’ advisory board, to reduce childhood lead exposure.

•                     Crime Victims Compensation Fund. Amend Chapter 595 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri to increase accessibility to Crime Victims’ Compensation Fund, including allowing non-law enforcement agencies to access those funds on behalf of an aggrieved victim.

•                     Healthcare Access. Oppose efforts that restrict access to or further criminalize necessary healthcare services, including contraception and abortion.

•                     Police Department Transparency with Dash-cam and Body-cam Videos. Amend Section 610.100 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri to allow the immediate release of mobile video recordings, including dash-cam and body-cam recordings, to the public to preserve peace and dispel public misunderstanding of a particular officer involved event.

•                     Abrogating Hodges v. St. Louis. Support efforts to amend Section 84.710 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri to eliminate the ability to recover twice for the same damages by victims of any Kansas City Police Department negligence. 

•                     Protecting Victims of Domestic Violence. Support efforts to expand protections for victims of domestic violence, including state legislation based on Kansas City’s recently adopted ordinance relating to the unlawful carrying of concealed firearms in the City by persons who are subject to a restraining order or convicted of domestic violence.

•                     Public Health Funding. Support funding for local public health agencies throughout Missouri and for mental health support and services, which are necessary components of our public health and wellbeing.

•                     Safe Parks and Public Spaces. Support Blair’s law legislation that will make discharging a firearm within or into city limits with criminal negligence a state offense.

•                     Recidivism Reduction. Support evidence-based policies proven to reduce recidivism, including funding workforce programs, capping or eliminating the cost of in-prison phone calls to ensure continued family connections after release, and join 90% of states around the country in providing gate money to people upon release from prison.

Housing, Community & Economic Development

•                     Access to Homeownership. Expand availability of down payment and closing cost assistance programs and low- or zero-interest mortgages for first-time homebuyers. 

•                     Addressing Blight and Vacancy. Authorize local governments to impose a tax or levy higher fines on corporations that leave residential properties vacant or blighted to incentivize refurbishing and renting or selling such properties.

•                     Clearance of Title. Support legislative efforts to amend requirements to more efficiently facilitate clearance of title in vacant lands in urban areas.

•                     Higher Education Savings Programs.  Support efforts to ensure higher education savings programs are accessible to all income levels and to ensure that the savings and investments made in such a program, including a 529 plan, are not used in calculating benefits or assistance received by a program participant or beneficiary from other unrelated programs or used to diminish any such benefits or assistance.

•                     Liquor Licensing Reform. Amend Section 311.096 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri to allow open containers of liquor in designated premises during large festivals and events. Support efforts to raise liquor license fees, many of which have not increased since licensing was established in 1939.

•                     Quality Child Care. Support efforts to increase the accessibility of full-day and full-year quality birth through Pre-K programs for all Missouri students.

•                     Supporting Missouri’s Workforce. Support workforce development programming, tailored to growing and in-demand industries across the state, including programs designed to support people returning to communities after incarceration, people exiting homelessness, and people with developmental disabilities. Support legislative action to allow cities to raise the minimum wage above the rate mandated statewide. 

•                     Supporting Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Support an additional appropriation of $2 million to provide matching support for the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Phase 2 application to spur biologic vaccine manufacturing innovation and good job creation in the Greater Kansas City Region.

•                     Tourism, Travel, and Special Events. Support an additional $1 million in appropriations for the City’s Convention and Sports Complex Fund, as authorized by Section 67.641 of the Missouri Revised Statutes. Support funding for organizations involved in promoting and hosting tourism, travel, sports, or other special events.

•                     Transparency in Home Sales. Legislative action to improve transparency surrounding investor purchasing of homes, including requirement to disclose investor principals of institutional buyers of 1- to 4-unit homes before point of sale.

Transportation & Infrastructure

•                     Broadband Access. Support equitable distribution of federal funding to expand broadband access by partnering with cities and counties of all sizes in planning for distribution of these funds and leveraging available technical assistance to address data quality issues, existing broadband access.

•                     Climate Protection and Resiliency. Support efforts to meet the City’s climate goals and advance environmental justice by accelerating the transition to affordable, zero carbon energy, making buildings more efficient, investing in pedestrian and bike infrastructure, increasing affordable housing near transit and jobs, and preserving and increasing tree canopies and other natural areas. Increase funding for climate protection measures, including funding for the inclusion of green building features in new building construction and rehabilitation.

•                     Transportation Funding. Support efforts to raise new revenues and allow state funding to address all current and future transportation needs, including the provision of zero-fare transit and expanded bus service so KCATA can better serve Kansas City’s workforce and employers.

Section 3. OTHER ORGANIZATIONS’ POSITIONS. That the City supports the legislative positions adopted by the Kansas City Consensus Agenda for Economic Development for matters that may come before the 2024 session of the Missouri General Assembly.

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