March 12th, 2026 Local News
Jefferson City, Mo. (KFMO) - Missouri lawmakers advanced several major pieces of legislation this past week, including a multi-billion-dollar supplemental budget and policy proposals related to property taxes, education accountability, criminal justice reform, and voting rights.
The Missouri Legislature approved House Committee Substitute House Bill 2014, which provides additional funding to state agencies and programs for the remainder of the current fiscal year ending June 30, 2026. Supplemental budgets are commonly used to cover costs that exceed original spending projections, including grant obligations, program operations, and required fund transfers. The measure appropriates approximately 3.1 billion dollars. Among the largest spending items included in the bill is one billion dollars for disaster recovery efforts in St. Louis and other areas impacted by severe storms in 2025. Another 635 million dollars is allocated for the Missouri Department of Transportation’s road program. Lawmakers also included 100 million dollars from federal funding for the Rural Health Transformation Program. Several reductions were also made, including nearly 15 million dollars previously designated for a Capitol expansion project representative, 150 thousand dollars for a delegation to the American State Fair, and 972 thousand dollars for building and furnishing an Attorney General’s office in Chesterfield. The supplemental budget now heads to Governor Mike Kehoe for consideration.
In addition to the budget measure, the Missouri House approved legislation aimed at reforming the state’s property tax system. House Committee Substitute House Bills 2780 and 2668 would require clearer ballot language for property tax proposals and mandate that measures display estimated dollar impacts based on property assessments. Most property tax questions would also be required to appear on the November general election ballot. The legislation revises property assessment rules by requiring assessors to conduct a physical inspection before increasing a property’s assessed value by more than fifteen percent since the previous assessment and clarifies that short-term rental single-family homes remain classified as residential property.
Another measure passed by the House would create a statewide school accountability report card system. House Committee Substitute House Bill 2710 requires the State Board of Education to publish an annual report card for each public school and district, grading them on a zero to 100 scale that translates into A-through-F letter grades. The grading system would include academic performance, growth in English, math, and science under the Missouri Assessment Program, and a “Success Ready Graduate” metric developed by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Schools would also receive a separate school climate score based on suspensions, restraint incidents, seclusion incidents, and survey responses from students, parents, and teachers.
The House also advanced criminal justice legislation that establishes a phased-in automatic expungement process for certain eligible criminal offenses. The Missouri State Highway Patrol would identify qualifying records quarterly before expungement occurs. The bill creates a Missouri Expungement Fund and requires annual reporting on expungement activity beginning in 2031. Lawmakers additionally approved a bill that allows individuals on probation or parole to vote unless their conviction involved a crime directly related to voting, a measure supporters say can encourage civic engagement and reduce recidivism.
Other measures passed by the House include updated laws governing unmanned aircraft systems, allowing federally certified peace officers to take action if a drone poses an imminent public safety threat. Another bill removes notarization requirements for certain mental health detention applications filed by professionals such as physicians, peace officers, nurses, and mental health specialists. Lawmakers also approved legislation expanding agricultural education programs statewide beginning in the 2027-28 school year, allowing any elementary school that chooses to participate. Finally, the House approved legislation designating June as “Fathership Month” in Missouri and creating a fatherhood support initiative within the Department of Social Services, which would partner with community and faith-based organizations to help fathers strengthen relationships with their children. Most of the measures approved by the House now move to the Missouri Senate for further consideration.