Blogs

Senate General Laws Chairman Curtis Trent, R-Springfield, has set a hearing on Senate Bill 507 by Sen. Nick Schroer, R-St. Charles County, prohibiting local governments from mandating landlords must accept Section 8 vouchers. Our lobbying team has testified against this and similar measures in defense of private property owners’ rights.  

Senate General Laws Committee will also conduct a hearing this week on REALTOR^®-backed House Committee Substitute for House Bills 594 and 508, allowing an income tax deduction for capital gains. The sponsor Rep. Chad Perkins, R-Bowling Green. 

Meanwhile, similar House-approved legislation barring Section 8 mandates is also in the Senate process. A hearing is set in the Senate Local Government, Elections and Pensions Committee, chaired by Sen. Rusty Black, R-Chillicothe, for House Committee Substitute for House Bills 595 and 343, sponsored by Rep. Chris Brown, R-Kansas City. 

Sen. Trent’s SB478, dealing with consumer protections, has been referred to the Senate Local Government committee and will receive a hearing this week. SB478 requires a real estate broker acting as a single agent for a buyer or tenant to enter into a written agency agreement with the buyer or tenant before engaging in specified activities. The same legislation, filed as HB596 by Rep. Chris Brown, R-Kansas City, is in good position in the House. 

There has been no movement on multiple proposals to ask voters to change the Constitution to allow sales taxes on services, an idea strongly opposed by REALTORS^®.