What’s going on in Missouri special session today? Your latest stadium plan update
Update: The Missouri Senate Fiscal Oversight Committee advanced the plan to the full Senate on Tuesday. Inside the move and what lobbyists for the teams told senators here.
Missouri lawmakers returned to Jefferson City this week to debate, among other issues, the state’s most aggressive plan to keep the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals inside state lines.
The goal of the special session, called by Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe, is for lawmakers to pass legislation that offers incentives for the two teams. Tornado disaster relief in St. Louis, as well as millions of dollars for construction projects, are also on the table.
So, where does the stadiums plan stand? The bill is winding through the same place where it died last month: the Missouri Senate.
After lawmakers failed to pass the proposal during the regular legislative session, Sen. Kurtis Gregory, a Marshall Republican, filed the stadiums plan during the first day of the special session on Monday.
The bill, called SB 3, allows the state to pay up to 50% of the cost of new or improved stadiums, viewed as the state’s main attempt to prevent Kansas from poaching the teams through that state’s incentives plan.
In addition to the stadiums proposal, Gregory’s bill would extend for another seven years a bill that offers tax credits to sports organizations in Jackson County and St. Louis, which was set to expire in August. The legislation also offers tax credits to people whose homes are damaged by disasters.
After Gregory filed the bill on Monday, the state Senate gaveled in on Tuesday and sent it to the chamber’s Fiscal Oversight Committee. That committee, which is scheduled to discuss the proposal late Tuesday morning, weighs the estimated cost and financial ramifications of legislation.
After the committee’s work is done, the nine-member panel could vote to recommend whether the Senate should pass it.
Tuesday’s committee hearing is noteworthy, giving supporters and critics a chance to weigh in before it reaches the Senate floor. The stadiums plan faced intense criticism last month when Kehoe unveiled it without any hearing or input from the general public.
As it winds through the Senate, the proposal is poised to run into a constellation of issues, ranging from ideological differences to concerns over its cost, from senators of both parties.
Any opposition to the stadiums funding plan could put the future of the teams at risk, as Missouri lawmakers face a ticking clock. While state law allows special sessions to last up to 60 days, the end of June looms over the Missouri Capitol.
When Kansas lawmakers passed, and Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly signed, a plan to lure the teams across the state line, the bonds program included a June 30 expiration date.
Under that deadline, the Chiefs and Royals must decide by then whether to try to use the Kansas program to move across the state line.
Supporters of keeping the teams in Missouri want lawmakers in Jefferson City to have a competing offer on the table.
This story was originally published June 3, 2025 at 11:51 AM.
