CCS HCS SS SCS SB 22 -- POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS

This bill changes the laws regarding political subdivisions.  In
its main provisions, the bill:

(1)  Authorizes Johnson County to adopt and enforce airport
hazard area zoning regulations that are substantially similar to
the current airport zoning and regulation laws;

(2)  Requires, as a condition for receiving state funds, that
counties formally agree to mandatory mediation for inter-county
disputes regarding responsibility for financial expenditures;

(3)  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;

(4)  Eliminates the requirement of advertising for county
contracts or purchases involving an expenditure of less than
$6,000;

(5)  Changes the amount in a member's defined contribution
account from $5,000 or less to $1,000 or less which members of
the County Employees' Retirement System who terminate employment
must have to receive an automatic lump sum distribution;

(6)  Requires Jackson County to establish a tax maintenance fund
that is funded by an additional 1% fee on the collection of
delinquent and back taxes to be used for the administrative and
operational costs of the collector;

(7)  Requires the public administrator to follow the specified
procedures for taking charge of moneys or property from a
deceased person's estate when delivered to the public
administrator by the county coroner;

(8)  Increases the amount of an expenditure from $5,000 to
$25,000 that must be competitively bid by the Jackson County
Sports Authority or the county executive of Jackson County;

(9)  Allows the county municipal court in Jackson County to hold
court in the evenings and outside the county seat of
Independence;

(10)  Requires county boards that receive funding from the county
treasury and whose members are appointed by the county commission
to submit a report each fiscal year of their itemized
expenditures;

(11)  Requires political subdivisions to provide additional
information to taxpayers before the public hearing held prior to
the setting of tax rates;

(12)  Allows the governing body of any municipality or county to
authorize members of an organization to stand in a road to
solicit charitable contributions under certain specified
conditions;

(13)  Authorizes Jefferson County to adopt orders with penal
provisions consistent with state law in the areas of zoning,
on-site sewer treatment, and county building codes, in addition
to the currently authorized areas of traffic violations, solid
waste management, and animal control;

(14)  Authorizes counties and municipalities to allow the pets of
patrons of certain public food service establishments within
certain designated outdoor areas;

(15)  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;

(16)  Authorizes the Boone County collector to assess a fee for
the collection of certain property assessments;

(17)  Authorizes the county governing body to have exclusive
control over the expenditures and operation of a regional
recreational district when the district is located only in that
county on land owned solely by the county.  Currently, this will
only affect Boone County;

(18)  Authorizes Perry County to impose, upon voter approval, a
sales tax of up to 0.25% to equally fund senior services and
youth programs;

(19)  Specifies that in Pulaski County, for the purpose of
collecting a transient guest tax, the term "transient guests"
means persons who occupy a room in a hotel or motel for 90 days
or less during any calendar quarter;

(20)  Authorizes the City of Gladstone to impose, upon voter
approval, a transient guest tax of up to 5% on hotel and motel
rooms to be used for the promotion of tourism;

(21)  Requires political subdivisions that collect and expend tax
revenues for tourism promotion to perform and pay for an audit at
least every five years if no other statutory auditing requirement
exists for the political subdivision.  The first audit must be
completed by January 1, 2009;

(22)  Authorizes the City of Sullivan and the portion of the
Sullivan C-II School District located in Franklin County to
impose, upon voter approval, a transient guest tax of from 2% to
5% per room per night for the promotion of tourism;

(23)  Authorizes the City of Hollister to impose, upon voter
approval, a transient guest tax of from 2% to 5% per room per
night for the promotion of tourism;

(24)  Allows any community improvement district (CID) that is a
nonprofit corporation to merge with another CID that is also a
nonprofit corporation if the boundaries of the two districts are
contiguous and other requirements in the bill are met.  The
definition of "per capita" is revised as it relates to
condominiums to mean one head count applied to the applicable
unit owners' association and not to each unit owner;

(25)  Authorizes, statewide, up to five legally authorized
representatives of any of the CID property owners to serve on the
board if there are fewer than five owners of property in the CID;

(26)  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, RSMo;

(27)  Authorizes Pulaski County to impose, upon voter approval, a
sales tax of one-eighth of 1% for three years to fund
construction of a women's and children's shelter;

(28)  Allows the governing body of any county or city that has
adopted transect-based zoning under Chapter 89 and the counties
of Boone, Clay, Franklin, Jackson, or Jasper and their
municipalities to form a theater, cultural arts, and
entertainment district;

(29)  Allows certain political subdivisions to share property tax
revenues from property located within 3,000 feet of a common
border between the political subdivisions;

(30)  Allows employees of a local public health agency located in
counties of the third classification and created by a joint
municipal agreement to be eligible for participation in the
Missouri Local Government Employees' Retirement System;

(31)  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;

(32)  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;

(33)  Requires county assessors to receive certified copies of
all annexation ordinances passed by cities, towns, and villages
within the county;

(34)  Establishes a new procedure for incorporating a village, as
specified 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;

(35)  Specifies that voluntary annexations by third class cities
do not require voter approval;

(36)  Removes the requirement in all noncharter counties that
city managers of third class cities must be city residents;

(37)  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;

(38)  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;

(39)  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;

(40)  Authorizes the City of St. Louis to impose, upon voter
approval, a sales tax of up to 0.5% for the operation of public
safety departments as well as for compensation, pension programs,
and health care for public safety employees and pensioners;

(41)  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;

(42)  Authorizes cities with a population of 7,500 or less
instead of the current 1,500 or less in certain counties to
transfer 40% of their transient guest taxes into their general
revenue fund, 35% for capital improvements, and 25% for tourism
marketing and promotional purposes;

(43)  Authorizes the City of Joplin to impose, upon voter
approval, a retail sales tax of up to 0.5% to be used for
nonprofit museums and organizations that develop, promote, or
operate historical locations;

(44)  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;

(45)  Specifies that any plan for an industrial development
project in Boone County approved after May 15, 2005, must
disburse any reimbursements in excess of the actual costs to each
affected taxing entity in proportion to the current ad valorem
tax levy of each affected taxing entity, not just the entities in
current law;

(46)  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;

(47)  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;

(48)  Changes the deadline for county commissions to receive
proposals and publicly open bids from banks regarding the
selection of the depository of county funds from April 1 to any
date on or before the first Monday of July in the year for which
a bid is requested;

(49)  Allows the City of Gladstone to levy separate and differing
tax rates for real and personal property as long as the city
bills and collects its own assessment;

(50)  Allows public water supply districts to receive payment by
credit cards or electronic transfers of funds and charge a fee
for the service;

(51)  Clarifies that purchases by the Jackson County Sports
Authority are tax exempt, exempts trailers used by common
carriers from certain local sales taxes regardless of whether
they are used in interstate commerce, and exempts purchases after
June 30, 2007, for construction, repair, or remodeling by the
Department of Transportation or the Highways and Transportation
Commission from sales and use taxes;

(52)  Changes an election revising the boundary lines between
seven-director school districts from the next general municipal
election to the next election after receipt of a qualified
petition;

(53)  Requires the Department of Elementary and Secondary
Education to pay a supplemental amount to any school district in
a county that established a county municipal court after
January 1, 2006, which causes a decrease in the amount the
district receives from fines in the current year from the amount
the district received in Fiscal Year 2005.  Currently, this will
only affect certain school districts in St. Charles County;

(54)  Reassigns the Monroe City R-I School District which is
located in two counties to the county with the higher dollar
value modifier as it is used for the school foundation formula;

(55)  Authorizes a procedure by which the existing boundaries of
a county library subdistrict may be expanded and the existing
subdistrict tax rate imposed, upon voter approval, in the
expanded area;

(56)  Changes the term of office for a person who is appointed to
fill a vacancy on an ambulance district board from until the next
annual election of board members to the remainder of the
unexpired term of the replaced board member;

(57)  Requires members of ambulance district boards and fire
protection district boards first elected after January 1, 2008,
to complete specified educational training;

(58)  Requires the Jasper County emergency services board to
provide services to the City of Joplin only after contracting
with the municipality to do so, provided that any contract in
effect as of January 1, 2006, will continue until a successor
contract of at least three years duration is entered into by the
board and the city;

(59)  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;

(60)  Authorizes the cities of Centerview and Kingsville to
impose, upon voter approval, an annual real property tax, not to
exceed 35 cents per year on each $100 of assessed valuation, to
fund the construction, operation, and maintenance of a community
health center;

(61)  Changes the election procedure for hospital district
directors in Iron County by requiring each voter to select only
one director from the hospital election district in which the
voter resides.  Currently, each voter selects six hospital
district directors, one from each district;

(62)  Specifies that a sheriff or jailer is not required to take
custody of a prisoner from an arresting officer until the
individual has been examined by medical personnel if he or she
appears to be unconscious, suffering from a serious injury, or
impaired by drugs or alcohol.  The prisoner will be responsible
for the cost of the examination;

(63)  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;

(64)  Allows certain charter county residents to petition the
county governing body for vacating certain roads;

(65)  Specifies that when a public road is at issue in
litigation, an exact location of the road is not required to be
proven.  Once the 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 the public road exists;

(66)  Reduces the number of signatures necessary for a petition
for voluntary annexation into a street light maintenance district
from two-thirds of the property owners to the number of owners of
at least 10% of the property in the area proposed for annexation;

(67)  Changes several provisions regarding transportation
development districts (TDD) including authorizing a TDD to
establish different classes or subclasses of real property within
a district for the purpose of levying differing rates of special
assessments, depending upon the level of benefit derived by each
class or subclass from projects funded by the district;

(68)  Allows levee districts to have 10 years instead of the
current five years after the lapse of the corporate charter in
which to reinstate and extend the time of the corporate
existence;

(69)  Changes the length of the term of office for directors of
public water supply districts elected in 2008, 2009, and 2010
from June to April because of a change in the date of their
election;

(70)  Authorizes Jasper County to impose, upon voter approval, a
landfill fee;

(71)  Defines "residence address" for the purposes of Chapter 302
regulating driver's and commercial driver's licenses;

(72)  Specifies that, upon approval of the board of aldermen, no
fire department employee will be required to reside within a
fixed area of the department if the only public school district
available to the employee is or has been unaccredited or
provisionally accredited in the last five years of the employee's
employment.  An employee of a fire department who has not resided
in the fire department's fixed and legal boundaries or who has
changed the employee's residency will not be required to reside
within the boundaries if the school district subsequently becomes
fully accredited.  These provisions will be in effect unless the
voters of the City of St. Louis vote to supersede this section by
September 1, 2008.  In addition, any employee who resides outside
the city will forfeit 1% of his or her salary for the time the
employee is not living in the city to offset any lost revenue for
the city;

(73)  Reduces the distance from any fuel dispenser that fireworks
can be manufactured, stored, or sold from 100 feet to 50 feet;

(74)  Specifies that fire protection districts, municipal fire
departments, and volunteer fire protection associations will be
the sole providers of fire suppression and related activities
within their legally defined boundaries unless their governing
body authorizes another entity to provide those services and
defines "fire department" as it relates to the jurisdiction and
duties of the State Fire Marshal.  Fire departments must file a
registration form within 60 days after January 1, 2008, and
annually thereafter.  The State Fire Marshal may issue each fire
department an identification number based upon the registration.
A volunteer fire protection association is required, instead of
allowed, to identify and register its boundaries with its county
governing body;

(75)  Specifies that fire protection district board members must
reside in the district;

(76)  Establishes a consolidation process for fire protection
districts located wholly in first classification counties upon
voter approval of a joint resolution within the fire protection
districts;

(77)  Removes the expiration date of August 28, 2007, on the
provision restricting political subdivisions from providing
certain telecommunication services and facilities;

(78)  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, rates, rents,
and charges constitutes the power to tax under the Missouri
Constitution;

(79)  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 or any
nonprofit sewer company from being eligible to obtain a
construction permit or operating permit unless a waiver from all
affected political subdivisions is obtained for a site where a
municipal, county, or public water supply district or public
sewer district operates a water system or a waste water treatment
system or a connection to a water or waste system is required by
a municipal or county ordinance;

(80)  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 only if the person or firm made direct or indirect
financial contributions as specified in the bill to any campaign
in support of the bond election;

(81)  Removes the provision that requires the City of St. Charles
to provide written notice two years in advance of the city's
intent to discontinue sanitary sewer service to homes connected
to the service after January 1, 2003;

(82)  Repeals the three-day waiting period to receive a marriage
license from the recorder of deeds;

(83)  Allows Kansas City 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 this type of system;

(84)  Authorizes the Board of Fund Commissioners, in addition to
the amounts authorized prior to August 28, 2007, to issue an
additional $10 million in bonds for water pollution control,
improvement of drinking water systems, and storm water control
projects; an additional $10 million in bonds for rural water and
sewer grants and loans; and an additional $20 million in bonds
for grants and loans for storm water control in counties of the
first classification and St. Louis City;

(85)  Revises the continuing education training requirements of
911 telecommunicators from 16 hours in a two-year period to 24
hours every three years;

(86)  Requires the cities of Rogersville and Springfield to abide
by the terms of the November 15, 2005, settlement agreement
relating to the involuntary annexation of certain real property
located between the two cities;

(87)  Prohibits, beginning January 1, 2008, all trucks with a
registered gross weight of more than 24,000 pounds from driving
in the far left lane within three miles of the intersection of
Interstate 70 and State Highway 370 except in emergency
situations or during road construction or repair;

(88)  Authorizes the Governor to convey state property in Jackson
County to the City of Kansas City;

(89)  Requires retailers in transportation development districts
in which a sales tax has been imposed or increased under certain
provisions to prominently display at the cash register area the
rate of the sales tax; and

(90)  Allows fire protection districts in Douglas County to
impose, upon voter approval, a sales tax of up to 1% for
operation costs, with the property tax levy reduced annually by
50% of the previous year's sales tax revenue.

Missouri House of Representatives
94th General Assembly, 1st Regular Session
Last Updated July 25, 2007 at 11:21 am