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Last week in the Missouri General Assembly

By Sam LICKLIDER posted 03-30-2018 12:43 PM

  

It was busy this week, the House and Senate came back from break with renewed energy.

HB 1796-first time homebuyers savings account is out of committee in the Senate. We are working to get it on the Calendar for what we hope to be a final vote in the Senate. If we can keep any amendments off, then we only need one more vote.

SB 920-Immunity for licensees in area or square footage issues. We have run into a problem. While the Trial Bar did not lobby against the bill and Sen Scott Sifton the only practicing attorney in the Senate spoke for it, Sen Doug Libla spent about 30/40 minutes talking about it. Adam and I have a meeting scheduled with him for next Tuesday, General Assembly is off Monday, and we will know more then.

Historic tax credits are still very controversial. There is an attempt in the House to cut them to $50 million, the Senate bill, SB 590 has the cap at $90 million, down from $140 million but there is a $30 million additional for projects in census tracts with high poverty clusters. The Senate bill went to the House on Thursday, and I expect we will end up dealing with that bill.  I’m cautiously optimistic that we can come to a reasonable compromise. The session has only seven weeks to run so stay tuned.

Wednesday evening the House Professional Registration committee heard HB 2451, introduced by Rep. Gary Cross. The bill deals with municipal building and occupancy permits.  Representatives from the Kansas City Homebuilders Association described problems with permitting in the Kansas City Region.  Several representatives of city governments testified against the bill, but the committee expressed concerned about the issues related by the proponents. Finally, filing for state and federal office closed this week, and Realtor/Representative Hannah Kelly is unopposed. Our other Realtor candidates, while they may have opponents, are, as best we can determine in decent shape to return as well.  In the 21st House district Realtor Dan O'Neill has two opponents in the Primary but apparently none in the General.

A list of bills that we are following is with the message on Common Ground that brought you here. 

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