Local Government Law
SCS HB 41 — Law Enforcement. (See Criminal Law)
HCS HB 98 — Transportation Services for the Elderly. (See Elder Law)
HCS HB 184 — Children’s Services Protection Act. (See Taxation Law)
SS HB 205 — Promotion of Tourism. (See Taxation Law)
HB 268 — Conveyance in Callaway County. Authorizes the Governor to convey a permanent biking and hiking trail easement over, on, and under state property located at the Missouri School for the Deaf in Callaway County to the City of Fulton. (Signed 5/31/07)
SCS HCS HB 426 — Propane Safety. (See Environmental/Energy Law)
HCS HB 459 — Municipal Land Transfers. (See Property Law)
CCS HB 574 — Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System Records. Changes the laws regarding the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners and law enforcement system records. The bill:
(1) Allows the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners to delegate some of its jurisdiction to hearing officers. At the board’s discretion, a hearing officer may preside over disciplinary matters, prepare reports to the board, and make recommendations on disciplinary matters and the appropriateness of the recommended discipline;
(2) Removes the requirement that a licensed physician, registered nurse, or trained medical technician must use a nonalcoholic antiseptic for cleansing the skin prior to drawing blood for the purpose of determining the alcohol content of the blood; and
(3) Requires courts to forward alcohol- or drug-related driving offense dispositions to the Department of Revenue within seven days and requires the department to forward the information to the State Highway Patrol within 15 days.
The bill contains an emergency clause on the provisions regarding the use of a nonalcoholic antiseptic for cleansing the skin prior to drawing blood for the purpose of determining alcohol content. (Signed 6/30/07)
SS SCS HCS HB 583 — Crime Victims. (See Criminal Law)
HCS HB 616 — County Boards of Equalization. Makes the county assessor a nonvoting member of his or her county board of equalization and requires the county commission to appoint two additional members to the board. The county assessor or a member of his or her staff will be required to attend any meeting of the board and will have the right to present evidence regarding any assessment matter. (Signed 6/13/07)
SCS HCS HB 795 — Local Public Improvements. Authorizes certain cities and counties to impose sales or transient guest taxes; allows certain counties to establish theater, cultural arts, and entertainment districts; allows Kansas City to establish an administrative system for adjudicating parking and other civil, nonmoving municipal code violations; and shortens the length of the term of office for certain directors of public water supply districts.
Nonmoving Municipal Code Violations. The City of Kansas City is allowed to establish, by order or ordinance, an administrative system for adjudicating parking and other civil, nonmoving municipal code violations. Currently, only the City of St. Louis may establish a system. (Signed 6/30/07)
SCS HB 801 — Telecommunications. Removes the expiration date of August 28, 2007, in Section 392.410, RSMo, which restricts political subdivisions from providing certain telecommunication services and facilities. (Signed 6/13/07)
SCS HJR 7 — Language of Official Proceedings. (See State Government Law)
CCS HCS SS SCS SB 22 — Political Subdivisions. Changes the laws regarding political subdivisions. Among its provisions, the bill:
(1) Requires, as a condition for receiving state funds, that counties formally agree to mandatory mediation for inter-county disputes regarding responsibility for financial expenditures;
(2) Prohibits current or former elected county officials or county commission employees from being appointed to the board of trustees that supervises the county law enforcement restitution fund;
(3) Eliminates the requirement of advertising for county contracts or purchases involving an expenditure of less than $6,000;
(4) Changes the account balance in the defined contribution account necessary to automatically receive a lump sum distribution from $5,000 to $1,000 or less for members of the County Employees’ Retirement System who terminate employment;
(5) Requires that when moneys from a deceased person’s estate are delivered to a county public administrator by the county coroner, the public administrator will take charge of the moneys as specified in the bill;
(6) Allows the county municipal court in Jackson County to hold court in the evenings and outside the county seat of Independence;
(7) Requires political subdivisions to provide additional information to taxpayers before the public hearing held prior to the setting of tax rates;
(8) Authorizes Jefferson County to adopt orders with penal provisions consistent with state law in the areas of zoning orders, on-site sewer treatment, and county building codes, in addition to the currently authorized areas of traffic violations, solid waste management, and animal control;
(9) Authorizes counties and municipalities to allow the pets of patrons of certain public food service establishments within certain designated outdoor areas;
(10) Limits real property owners of record to one signature on a petition to establish a neighborhood improvement district, regardless of how many parcels are owned in the proposed district. Neighborhood improvement districts in existence prior to August 28, 2007, where two-thirds of the district property is owned by a single person or entity, are nullified and any debt must be assumed by the governing body of the city or county;
(11) Authorizes the Boone County collector to assess a fee for the collection of certain property assessments;
(12) Authorizes the county governing body to have exclusive control over the expenditures and operation of a regional recreational district located only in that county on land owned solely by the county;
(13) Allows any community improvement district (CID) that is a nonprofit corporation to merge with another community improvement district that is also a nonprofit organization if the boundaries of the two districts are contiguous;
(14) Authorizes, statewide, up to five legally authorized representatives of any of the community improvement district (CID) property owners to serve on the board if there are less than five owners of property in the CID;
(15) Clarifies that a CID election to impose a district sales and use tax is to be conducted under the CID laws and not Chapter 115;
(16) Allows the governing body of any county or city that has adopted transect-based zoning under Chapter 89 and the counties of Franklin, Clay, Jackson, Boone, or Jasper and their municipalities to form a theater, cultural arts, and entertainment district;
(17) Specifies that if the State of Kansas has not enacted the Kansas and Missouri Regional Investment District Compact by August 28, 2007, the district will be established only in the Missouri counties of Buchanan, Cass, Clay, Jackson, Platte, and Ray and will be called the Missouri Regional Investment District;
(18) Adds county assessors to the list of county officials who must receive certified copies of the ordinances effecting a concurrent detachment and annexation of property between municipalities, and requires county assessors to receive certified copies of annexation ordinances passed by cities, towns, and villages within the county;
(19) Establishes a new procedure for incorporating a village, as defined in the bill, so that when 15% of the registered voters in an unincorporated village petition the county governing body for incorporation, the county governing body must put the issue to a public vote;
(20) Specifies that voluntary annexations by third class cities do not require voter approval;
(21) Removes the requirement in all noncharter counties that city managers of third class cities must be city residents;
(22) Allows the board of aldermen of a fourth class city, upon voter approval, to change the term of office for the mayor to two, three, or four years;
(23) Authorizes the governing body of a fourth class city with less than 100 people to diminish the city limits without an election upon application of a person owning five or more acres if the application is accompanied by a petition of a majority of the registered voters of the city, or if no registered voters exist, of parties owning a majority of the land in the area to be excluded;
(24) Specifies that certain conditions of cancer will be presumed to be suffered in the line of duty for the purpose of computing retirement benefits for firefighters under certain conditions;
(25) Authorizes cities with a population of 7,500 or less in certain counties to transfer 40% of their tourism taxes into their general revenue fund;
(26) Authorizes tax increment financing projects within the flood plain in the City of St. Charles if the redevelopment area actually abuts a river or major waterway and is substantially surrounded by contiguous properties with residential, industrial, or commercial zoning classifications;
(27) Repeals the provision on the disclosure requirements for a person attempting to influence a local government decision in a city with a population of over 400,000;
(28) Authorizes certain public entities to enter into agreements to modify the payment terms for bonds in certain situations based on changes in interest rates and the purchase price of fuel, electricity, natural gas, and other commodities;
(29) Establishes notice and procedural requirements for the formation of a new reorganized common sewer district and the conversion of an existing common sewer district into a reorganized common sewer district;
(30) Specifies that when a legally erected billboard exists on a parcel of property, a local zoning authority cannot adopt or enforce any ordinance, order, rule, regulation, or practice that eliminates the ability of a property owner to build or develop property or erect an on-premise sign solely because a legally erected billboard already exists on the property;
(31) Allows certain charter county residents to petition the county governing body for vacating certain roads;
(32) Specifies that when the subject of a public road is at issue in litigation, an exact location of the road is not required to be proven. Once a public road is determined to exist, a judge may order a survey to be conducted to determine the exact location of the public road and charge the costs of the survey to the party who asserted that a public road exists;
(33) Allows levee districts to have 10 years after the lapse of the corporate charter in which to reinstate and extend the time of the corporate existence;
(34) Allows joint municipal utility commissions to enter into joint contracts to form other joint municipal utility commissions and specifies that a joint municipal utility commission’s statutory power to fix, maintain, and revise fees and rates constitutes the power to tax under the Missouri Constitution;
(35) Requires any nonprofit sewer company or nonprofit water company to provide a copy of the company’s articles of incorporation and bylaws to the Department of Natural Resources to ensure statutory compliance, authorizes a nonprofit sewer company to provide the same services as provided by a nonprofit water company in areas not within the boundaries of a public water supply district or within the certificated area of a water corporation, and prohibits any nonprofit water company from being eligible to obtain a construction permit or a permit to dispense unless a waiver from all affected political subdivisions is obtained for a site where a municipality, county, or public water supply district operates a water system or a connection to a water system is required by ordinance;
(36) Prohibits any nonprofit sewer or water company from being eligible to obtain a construction or operating permit unless a waiver from all affected political subdivisions is obtained for a site where a municipality, county, public sewer district, or public water supply district operates a wastewater treatment system or a connection to a wastewater treatment system is required by a municipal or county ordinance;
(37) Prohibits an investment firm, legal firm offering bond counsel services, or any person having interest in these firms from being involved with the issuance of bonds authorized by an election if the person or firm made direct or indirect financial contributions as specified to any campaign in support of the bond election;
(38) Repeals the three-day waiting period to receive a marriage license from the recorder of deeds; and
(39) Allows Kansas City to establish, by order or ordinance, an administrative system for adjudicating parking and other nonmoving municipal code violations. Currently, only the City of St. Louis may establish a system. (Signed 7/13/07)
SCS SB 46 — Faith-Based Organization Liaison Act. (See State Government Law)
HCS SCS SB 47 — Fire Protection and Volunteer Emergency Response Personnel. (See Labor/Employment Law)
CCS HCS SB 81 — Promotion of Local Tourism and Economic Development. Authorizes certain cities to impose, upon voter approval, a transient guest tax to be used for the promotion of tourism.
The governing body of certain counties and cities are authorized to form a theater, cultural arts, and entertainment district.
The City of Independence is authorized to impose, upon voter approval, a sales tax of up to 1% of gross retail receipts to be used for funding police services provided by the municipal police department. (Signed 6/30/07)
HCS SS SB 112 — Education. (See Education/School Law)
SB 172 — Police and Civilian Employees’ Retirement System of Kansas City. (Signed 7/13/07)
CCS SB 233 — Local Taxes. (See Taxation Law)
SB 257 — Firearms. (See State Government Law)
HCS SS SCS SB 284 — Video Service Regulations. (See Commercial Law)
SB 298 — Hospital District Directors in Iron County. Changes the election procedure for hospital district directors in Iron County. (Signed 5/31/07)
CCS#2 HCS#2 SB 406 — Employee Benefit Plans. (See Labor/Employment Law)
SB 407 — Public Water Supply Districts. Allows a public water supply district to contract with another water district or municipality to sell water in the other entity’s service area. (Signed 5/31/07)
HCS SCS SB 497 — Counties. Changes the laws regarding counties. In its main provisions, the bill:
(1) Requires unclaimed money or property found on a deceased individual to be delivered to the public administrator;
(2) Changes the deadline for county commissions to receive proposals and publicly open bids from banks bidding to be a depository of public funds from April 1 of each year to any date on or before the first Monday of July; and
(3) Specifies that any transportation sales tax approved on or after August 28, 2007, by the voters in either the City of St. Louis or St. Louis County will not require approval in both jurisdictions to become effective. (Signed 7/13/07)