RESOLUTION NO. 251038
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Sponsor: Mayor Quinton Lucas
RESOLUTION - Establishing the City of Kansas City's major legislative priorities and positions on matters for the 2026 session of the Missouri General Assembly.
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WHEREAS, the Missouri General Assembly will convene on January 8, 2026; and
WHEREAS, the City seeks to elevate local positions in statewide policy debates, which deeply impact the lives of Kansas Citians; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF KANSAS CITY:
Section 1. MAJOR PRIORITIES. That the City adopts the following major priorities on matters that may come before the 2026 session of the Missouri General Assembly:
1. Housing Affordability and Homelessness Prevention. Protect and expand state housing programs like the state housing tax credit that incentivize the production and preservation of affordable housing units, including permanent supportive housing for people exiting homelessness. Increase state support for cities and counties with higher numbers of people experiencing homelessness and/or housing cost-burden and initiatives that research and implement rapid, scalable, collapsible, cost-effective sheltering solutions.
2. World Cup. Support funding and allocation of resources related to planning and hosting of the FIFA World Cup games hosted by Kansas City in 2026.
3. Earnings Tax. Oppose efforts to undermine or eliminate the Earnings Tax. Support the extension of the Earnings Tax renewal period to strengthen the City's bond rating.
4. Local Decision Making. Support legislative action to return the Kansas City Police Department to local control and provide the city and its residents with equivalent control over budgeting and policy decision as other Missourians throughout the State. Any state-imposed funding mandate such as a minimum budget requirement for law enforcement agencies should be fulfilled with state funds, in compliance with the Missouri State Constitution.
5. Provide for Kansas City Police Department Liabilities in the State’s Budget. As a statewide function, amend Mo. Rev. Stat. 105.726 and Chapter 84 RSMo (as necessary) to ensure that settlements, verdicts, and related legal expenses are paid exclusively through state appropriations and not local funds dedicated for police budgets. Additionally, provide sufficient appropriations to pay such settlements, verdicts, and related legal expenses in matters in which the Kansas City Police Department is involved.
Section 2. POSITIONS. That the City adopts the following positions on matters that may come before the 2026 session of the Missouri General Assembly:
Finance & Governance
• Housing Authority Governance. Support legislative action that provides authority to the Mayor of the City to appointment Commissioners to the Housing Authority of Kansas City consistent with authority of other municipalities in the State.
• Employment and Public Officer Conduct Laws. Seek both clarifying and substantive amendments to laws relating to unlawful employment practices and the conduct of public officers and employees that continue to seek alignment with federal counterparts, build on prior efforts of the Missouri Legislature, and which continue to balance the important tenets of such laws with the competing demands of the taxpayer’s limited resources.
• Entrepreneurial Support. Support efforts to create an Angel Investment Tax Credit program, as well as increased funding and opportunities for entrepreneurs and early-stage companies.
• City Contracting. Amend Section 8.250 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, to provide an exception for charter cities so the City can continue to award contracts to the lowest and best bidder.
• Discriminatory Laws. Oppose legislation that would be reasonably viewed as discriminatory toward any citizen of the State of Missouri and harmful to its economy and support legislative efforts to provide additional protections under the Missouri Human Rights Act, such as the Missouri Nondiscrimination Act (MONA), to prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
• Efficiency in Tax Administration. Amend Section 32.057 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri to allow cities to use sales and use tax data to enforce City taxes, so long as confidentiality is maintained.
• Parity in Access to State Tax Refunds. Amend Section 143.782 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri to include "political subdivisions" to allow for a refund offset program with the Missouri Department of Revenue.
• Unnecessary Reporting Burdens. Support efforts to reduce government inefficiencies by amending Section 479.359 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri to exempt large cities from required calculation and reporting of municipal fines.
• Access to Democracy. Support legislative action that extends early voting, allows for same-day voter registration, removes voter ID requirements, and respects the will of voters when issues are put to the ballot for decision by the people of the State of Missouri.
Health & Public Safety
• Expanded Domestic Violence and Intimate Partner Violence Resources. Support additional funding to assist organizations and groups that seek to reduce or address harms suffered as a result of domestic or intimate partner violence.
• Prohibition of Gas Station Drugs. Support legislation to prohibit the sale of substances commonly sold at gas stations, including but not limited to kratom, Delta 8, or 7-OH.
• Crime Victims Compensation Fund. Amend Chapter 595 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri to increase accessibility to Crime Victims' Compensation Fund, including allowing non-law enforcement agencies to access those funds on behalf of an aggrieved victim.
• Healthcare Access. Oppose efforts that restrict access to or further criminalize necessary healthcare services, including contraception and abortion, or assisted reproductive technology.
• One Big Beautiful Bill Medicaid Work Requirements. Facilitate and ensure simple and efficient processing of expanded Medicaid work and volunteer requirements required as a result of the Federal One Big Beautiful Bill.
• Police Department Transparency with Dash-cam and Body-cam Videos. Amend Section 610.100 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri to allow the immediate release of mobile video recordings, including dash-cam and body-cam recordings, to the public to preserve peace and dispel public misunderstanding of a particular officer involved event.
• Abrogating Hodges v. St. Louis. Support efforts to amend Section 84.710 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri to eliminate the ability to recover twice for the same damages by victims of any Kansas City Police Department negligence.
• Protecting Victims of Domestic Violence. Support efforts to expand protections and advocacy efforts for victims of domestic violence, including state legislation reinforcing the United States Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Rahimi, which upholds 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8), prohibiting persons who are subject to a domestic violence restraining order from carrying a firearm.
• Gun Violence. Support efforts to build safe communities and fight the gun violence epidemic. Support legislation banning automatic conversion devices such as bump stocks, which harness the recoil energy of a semiautomatic firearm, and support legislation amending State law to match Federal law regarding the possession of firearms by minors.
• Public Health Funding. Support funding for local public health agencies throughout Missouri and for mental health support and services, which are necessary components of our public health and wellbeing.
• Safe Parks and Public Spaces. Support funding for neglected public spaces that present safety concerns, such as flooding and pollution. Endorse efforts to expand community spaces, including recreational zones, natural and historical trails, and parks to ensure community engagement and encourage healthy lifestyles.
• Recidivism Reduction. Support evidence-based policies proven to reduce recidivism, including funding workforce programs, capping or eliminating the cost of in-prison phone calls to ensure continued family connections, and join 90% of states around the country in providing gate money to people upon release from prison.
• Drug Crisis. Support increased funding for cities to combat the fentanyl crisis, which poses a significant threat to public health and safety in Missouri’s cities.
• Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement. Support legislation authorizing Kansas City to enact ordinances providing for the lawful seizure, impounding, and disposition of all-terrain vehicles and off-road vehicles unlawfully operating on highways, streets, or rights-of-way within City boundaries.
Housing, Community & Economic Development
• Access to Homeownership. Expand availability of down payment and closing cost assistance programs and low- or zero-interest mortgages for first-time homebuyers.
• Addressing Blight and Vacancy. Authorize local governments to impose a tax or levy higher fines on corporations that leave residential properties vacant or blighted to incentivize refurbishing and renting or selling such properties.
• Clearance of Title. Support legislative efforts to amend requirements to more efficiently facilitate clearance of title in vacant lands in urban areas.
• Brownfield Remediation. Support funding and additional resources to remediate hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants on developable property to facilitate sustainable developments for public and privately owned vacant lots.
• Land Bank Authority. Support land bank legislation that expedites acquisition and disposition of vacant and tax-delinquent properties to facilitate affordable housing development.
• Housing Discrimination Enforcement. Amend Section 213.040 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri to restore substantial equivalency between the Missouri Human Rights Act and the Fair Housing Act to strengthen local enforcement capacity and the ability of the citizens of Kansas City to seek housing free from discrimination.
• Higher Education Savings Programs. Support efforts to ensure higher education savings programs are accessible to all income levels and to ensure that the savings and investments made in such a program, including a 529 plan, are not used in calculating benefits or assistance received by a program participant or beneficiary from other unrelated programs or used to diminish any such benefits or assistance.
• Liquor Licensing Reform. Amend Section 311.096 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri to allow open containers of liquor in designated premises during large festivals and events. Support efforts to raise liquor license fees, many of which have not increased since licensing was established in 1939.
• Quality Child Care. Support efforts to increase the accessibility of full-day and full-year quality birth through Pre-K programs for all Missouri students.
• Investment in Youth Programming. Support policies and funding for youth programs and activities that increase youth participation in sports, enhance literacy, increase civic engagement, promote high school graduation, and prepare teens to enter college or the job market.
• Supporting Missouri's Workforce. Support workforce development programming tailored to growing and in-demand industries across the state, including programs designed to support people returning to communities after incarceration, people exiting homelessness, and people with developmental disabilities. Support legislative action to allow cities to raise the minimum wage above the rate mandated statewide.
• Supporting Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Support an additional appropriation of $2 million to provide matching support for the Regional Technology and Innovation Hub Phase 2 application to spur biologic vaccine manufacturing innovation and good job creation in the Greater Kansas City Region.
• Tourism, Travel, and Special Events. Support an additional $1 million in appropriations for the City's Convention and Sports Complex Fund, as authorized by Section 67.641 of the Missouri Revised Statutes. Support funding for organizations involved in promoting and hosting tourism, travel, sports, or other special events.
• Transparency in Home Sales. Legislative action to improve transparency surrounding investor purchasing of homes, including requirement to disclose investor principals of institutional buyers of 1- to 4-unit homes before point of sale.
• Education Funding. Increase the overall State funding per pupil in an effort to make Missouri funding rate in the top one half of all states in the country to support K through 12 education.
• Education Support. Maintain the integrity of current foundation formula while increasing and providing appropriations to fully fund the foundation formula, transportation formula, summer school and early childhood education.
• Transportation Support. Maintain full funding of transportation formula including modifying the provision that penalizes school districts when they transport highly mobile students back to their original school of attendance.
• Development Tools. Expand economic development tools at the state and local level to maintain competitiveness with other jurisdictions.
Transportation & Infrastructure
• Transportation Funding. Support efforts to raise new revenues and allow state funding to address all current and future transportation needs so KCATA can better serve Kansas City's workforce and employers.
• Broadband Access. Support equitable distribution of federal funding to expand broadband access by partnering with cities and counties of all sizes in planning for distribution of these funds and leveraging available technical assistance to address data quality issues, existing broadband access.
• Climate Protection and Resiliency. Support efforts to meet the City's climate goals by accelerating the transition to affordable, zero carbon energy, making buildings more efficient, investing in pedestrian and bike infrastructure, increasing affordable housing near transit and jobs, and preserving and increasing tree canopies and other natural areas. Increase funding for climate protection measures, including funding for the inclusion of green building features in new building construction and rehabilitation.
• Traffic Safety. Support efforts to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries on roadways, while increasing safe, healthy, and equitable mobility for everyone.
Section 3. OTHER ORGANIZATIONS' POSITIONS.
• That the City supports the legislative positions adopted by the Kansas City Consensus Agenda for Economic Development for matters that may come before the 2026 session of the Missouri General Assembly.
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