Missouri Senate Bill 3 faces constitutional challenge in court
Madison Stuerman
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
State Sen. Mike Moon (R-Ash Grove), State Rep. Bryant Wolfin (R-Ste. Genevieve) and a Maries County man have filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Senate Bill 3.
The lawsuit — that was filed Thursday in Cole County — is asking a judge to declare Senate Bill 3 unconstitutional, specifically regarding the stadium subsidies for the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals.
The petition claims the bill is unconstitutional because it violates Missouri constitutional provisions with the grant of taxpayer funds to a private person, Missouri Special Law and claims the title was not clear and a change of original purpose.
“The title of this bill is taxation, and it includes things that don’t relate to taxation,” Attorney Bevis Schock said in a Thursday press conference. “There’s supposed to be only one subject, this bill has a lot of subjects: disaster relief, there’s a campaign finance provision.”
The also lawsuit claims the bill allows elected officials to use campaign funds for personal use to pay attorneys to defend legal challenges brought against them related to the bill and that it allows some, but not all, counties to vote on the adoption of the tax credits for property tax relief.
“The appropriations described in the bill are a direct gift or bribe to the owners of the Chiefs and the Royals to stay in Missouri,” the lawsuit states.
“The stadium subsidies are a bribe paid to sports team owners to meet their extortion demand to stop them from leaving Missouri for Kansas,” Schock said in a news release. “The way the numbers workit appears the legislature and the governor are sticking taxpayers with most of the salary of Chiefs Quarterback Patrick Mahomes.”
Schock during the news conference compared Mahome’s salary with the predicted tax subsidies that teams could receive.
“He’s gotten $50 million a year. The subsidy looks like about $33 million a year. I think if you asked your average guy on the street or gal, ‘Hey you think that the taxpayer ought to be paying Mahomes? Or should the owner of the team be paying Mahomes since he’s gotten the profit when the team succeeds?,” Schock said.
The bill passed in the Missouri Senate by a vote of 19-13 during a special session. It was then passed by the Missouri House with a vote of 90-58.
Wolfin believes supporter of SB3 hid behind the need for disaster relief in Saint Louis at the time to support their own interests.
“The whole, headline of this special session was to try to reconvene, to try and get disaster relief for the Saint Louis area. The reality is that was just never true,” Wolfin said.
Lawmakers added the property tax freeze into the bill’s proposal to ensure its passing.
Gov. Mike Kehoe signed the bill into law on June 14.
The Show Me Sports Investment Act is aimed at keeping the two sports teams from moving to Kansas. The proposal would give the state’s professional sports teams access to state funding for stadium projects through new bonds, but only if certain requirements are met.
The project must cost at least $500 million and involve stadiums with more than 30,000 seats. The state could cover up to 50% of the total cost and eligible teams could also access a tax credit worth up to 10% of their investment.
Chiefs owner and CEO Clark Hunt said on Monday a final decision has not been made but said there is some urgency to make one.