Legislative Update - 2026, Week 13

By Otto Fajen, MNEA Director of Legislative Policy

LEGISLATURE RETURNS AFTER EASTER BREAK

The House and Senate were not in session on April 6 and convened on April 7 after the Easter holiday break.

INCOME TAX AND SALES TAXES

The Senate Economic and Workforce Development Committee approved SCS/HCS/HJRs 173 & 174 (Bishop Davidson) on April 1. The SCS contains a self-enforcing calculation to incrementally reduce and eliminate the income tax over an unknown number of years. The SCS also allows the legislature to expand the state sales and use tax to all goods and services, while requiring local subdivisions to reduce local taxes to compensate for any revenue increases due to the sales tax expansion. This proposal could undermine public investment in all sectors and damage the state's economy. The Association opposes the joint resolution and elimination of the state income tax.

EDUCATOR IMMUNITY

The House approved HCS/HBs 2913 & 3228 (Bill Irwin) on April 7 by a vote of 150-0. The bill would provide teachers with immunity if the teacher intervened in an incident involving violence at school. The Association supports the bill.

STATE OVERSIGHT OF HIGH SCHOOL ACTIVITIES ASSOCIATION

The Senate perfected SS#2/SB 863 (Jason Bean) on April 7. Sen. Bean withdrew the original SS version that provided for a state takeover of MSHSAA through a board appointed by the Governor. The SS#2 creates a new oversight commission appointed by the Governor and housed within DESE. The oversight commission will review appeals relating to eligibility of transferring students and appeals relating to contests and contest procedures. The bill also requires MSHSAA to prepare an annual report and present the report to relevant committees in the House and the Senate.

AGRICULTURE EDUCATION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

The House Special Committee on Rural Issues approved SS/SCS/SB 1383 (Barbara Washington) on April 8. Prior to approving the Senate version of the bill, the committee debated and then voted down an HCS version that would have added many additional provisions that primarily consist of education-related bills already approved by the House. The House could still attempt to amend some or all of the provisions in the defeated HCS if the bill is taken up on the House floor.

The Senate bill would expand the current agricultural education pilot program to be a statewide program for all participating elementary schools. The SS is the same as HCS/HBs 2097 & 1905 (John Martin). The Association supports the bill.

HOUSE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

The committee heard three bills on April 8:

HB 2126 (Brad Banderman) and HB 2197 (Marty Jacobs) would establish due process and evaluation requirements for principals. The Association supports the bills.

HB 2965 (LaKeySha Bosley) relating to instruction in Black history and Black literature. The bill would create a high school graduation requirement for students to complete one unit of Black history and one unit of Black literature before receiving a diploma. The State Board of Education would be required to convene a work group and develop academic performance standards for the required courses and provide a model curriculum to districts.

The committee also approved HCS/HBs 3532 and 3483 (Brad Pollitt) on April 8. The bill requires the General Assembly to create education materials to use in public schools that will detail the legislative process in Missouri. Materials may include real-world experiences, publications, reasonable accommodations for place-based learning, opportunities for civic engagement, and digital resources.

HOUSE HIGHER EDUCATION COMMITTEE

The committee heard two bills on April 7:

HB 3221 (David Casteel) would prohibit the allocation of state funds for certain low-earning outcome academic degree programs as defined in federal law.

HB 3416 (LaKeySha Bosley) to create a state fund to support historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The fund will receive one percent of excursion gambling boat proceeds and one percent of net proceeds from the Missouri state lottery. The fund shall be divided equally among HBCUs for capital projects and activities.

POLICIES ON ANTISEMITISM

The Senate approved SS/HB 2061 (George Hruza) on April 8, and the House accepted the Senate changes on April 9. The bill will now be sent to the Governor for his approval or veto. The bill would require policies against discrimination and antisemitism in public schools and public colleges and universities. The Senate version gives school boards and higher education governing bodies more flexibility regarding how their policies define antisemitism.

PROPERTY TAXES

The Senate debated SS/SCS/SJR 111 (Brad Hudson) on April 8 but did not bring the measure to a vote. The joint resolution would enact constitutional requirements for reassessment rollbacks by property subclass, include new construction and improvements in rollback calculations, and impose reassessment rollbacks on debt service levies.

The Association opposes the resolution. The Association is concerned that including new construction and improvements will limit appropriate local funding increases when growth requires additional services. Imposing rollbacks on debt service levies is not consistent with the basis on which voters authorize debt and could disrupt the entire financial system that allows local districts to fund buildings and capital projects.

Read past issues of the Legislative Update at www.mnea.org/legupdate.