The 2026 Missouri legislative session begins Wednesday with Republican leaders set to try to cut taxes in what's expected to be a reduced spending year.
"When I think of big-ticket items, there are five things: income tax, property tax, public safety, education and reducing government," Speaker of the House Jon Patterson, R-Lee's Summit, said of the issues he wants to address.
Tax cuts a GOP priority
Taxes are top of mind for Missouri Republicans this year with Gov. Mike Kehoe pushing to eventually eliminate the income tax in the state.
Patterson said this is something he supports.
"Right now, I really want to discuss why we're doing this. And I think once you think about that, you'll see that not only should we do it, I think it's a must, because other states that are doing this are growing," Patterson said.
Kehoe is expected to announce details of his plan during his State of the State address on Tuesday.
Senate Majority Floor Leader Tony Luetkemeyer, R-Parkville, said that as he understands it, part of Kehoe's plan is to rely on cuts being triggered by future revenue growth.
"So anytime the state's tax collections increase by a certain percentage, we would see a core corresponding cut in the income tax, and that's kind of similar to the approach that's been taken in the past," Luetkemeyer said.
While the plan will likely have Republican support, there are concerns as to where the state will make up that revenue.
"When we talk about totally eliminating the income tax, we're talking about nearly a $9 billion hole in the state budget. So that's essentially two-thirds of all general revenue comes from that income tax, and so that tax burden would have to be shifted elsewhere," said Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, D-Kansas City.
At least one Republican senator has reservations about an income tax elimination. Former Appropriations Chair Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, said replacing what would be lost by getting rid of the state income tax would potentially mean a stark increase in other taxes.
"If we're talking about offsetting that income tax with the sales tax, you're talking about adding 9% or 10% to the state sales tax," Hough said.
The legislature is likely to address other taxes as well – including property taxes.
Patterson created an interim committee last year to examine property taxes. That committee met across Missouri for several months. Patterson said there will be a larger bill addressing property taxes that comes out of that committee, along with smaller pieces of legislation.
"We've got to do something on property taxes. It's one of the top things that people care about," Patterson said.
House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, D-Kansas City, said people throughout the state are frustrated.
"Some folks feel that their assessment was incorrect. Some folks feel that just the rate at which the property taxes are rising every year is unsustainable," Aune said.
However, Aune isn't sure that an overhaul of both income and property taxes will happen this year.
"There are so many challenges to how we are taxing folks across the state, but I just don't know that there's appetite for an overhaul of our property taxes and our state income tax in the same session," Aune said.
A smaller budget on the horizon
The talk of tax cuts arrives when Missouri lawmakers are likely to pass the tightest budget in years.
The legislature has passed record-setting budgets in years past, largely due to an infusion of federal dollars. Now, that money has largely been spent, with the remaining likely to remain in reserves.
Luetkemeyer said this year's budget is likely to be flatter, meaning lawmakers will have to limit spending.
"I think this session, you're going to see a lot tighter budget that focuses more on maintaining current services, rather than some of the new decision items that we've seen more recently," Luetkemeyer said.
Aune believes the challenge of this year's budget is twofold: the end of increased federal dollars and the reduction of state revenue due to the elimination of the capital gains tax.
"Our caucus is prepared to have to say no to a lot of people this year, and to see some of the programs that we care about deeply not being funded. And that is deeply concerning for us," Aune said.
Nurrenbern, who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said she is not looking forward to the budget process this year.
"The departments are asking for more money than we anticipate that we're going to collect. So that's going to be tough. We're not going to be able to fund everything," Nurrenbern said.
The projected smaller budget is a reason Hough is skeptical of reducing income taxes this year.
"If you want to talk about how do you become broke real quick, let's eliminate the income tax and not come up with a sustainable solution to replace the $9 billion that the individual income tax in this state brings," Hough said.
Education spending
An area of spending likely to spur debate is education. Last year, the legislature fully funded the state's K-12 public education formula. Nurrenbern is hoping that continues.
"I think there is a lot of bipartisan support to continue to make sure that we are funding great public education in the state," Nurrenbern said.
However, Luetkemeyer said education funding is something that will likely be evaluated this year.
"Sometimes just throwing more money at a situation does not always improve results. And I think that we need to be very thoughtful about the way that we fund our schools," Luetkemeyer said.
One area of education spending that is again likely to be controversial is additional funding for the state's private school voucher program. State Treasurer Vivek Malek has asked for $100 million for the program. That's double last year's allocation.
Aune anticipates those dollars again being up for debate in the legislature.
"As far as I can tell, there's not a whole lot of oversight about who's getting those dollars and whether or not they qualify financially to do so," Aune said. "So, you know, I worry that the focus will be in the wrong areas, in terms of our budget around education."
Luetkemeyer said that he expects to see a continuation of funding for that program, but that the requested increase is subject to evaluation.
"I would suspect that that same amount of funding [$50 million] will be sort of the floor going into this year," Luetkemeyer said. "But you know, it's possible that there may be a mechanism for increasing that just kind of remains to be seen."
Beyond funding, there are several education policies that are likely to be debated in both the House and Senate.
The House has continued to pass legislation that would create open enrollment within Missouri's public schools. It has yet to cross the finish line in both chambers.
Patterson said he expects to see a version of that bill, though he is not sure how far it will go in the legislative process.
Luetkemeyer believes open enrollment could be a focus in the Senate.
"Open enrollment is probably the one that would be the most achievable of the education reform measures that are out there. And I'd look for that to probably be a pretty big focus for us," Luetkemeyer said.
Open enrollment largely sees opposition from Democrats. Nurrenbern said those discussions lead to worries about school closures.
"I feel like open enrollment would really force that school consolidation faster than many communities would want," Nurrenbern said.
Another piece of legislation regarding school choice could be the expansion of charter schools into St. Louis, St. Charles and Jackson counties.
"If it increases options for kids and parents, I definitely want to take a look at it," Patterson said.
However, Nurrenbern does not believe there is momentum for charter school expansion this year.
"In the 20-plus years that charters have been open, nearly half have closed. And so I'm really not anticipating any further expansion or any real emphasis on the expansion of charter schools," Nurrenbern said.
Some education policies that Nurrenbern wants passed this year include proposals to fully fund school lunch programs and give more leeway to schools when it comes to annual testing.
Other legislative priorities
Last session, lawmakers passed a wide-reaching public safety bill that included placing the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department under a state-appointed board.
Those board members will be up for confirmation in the Senate this coming session.
Beyond that, Luetkemeyer said there have been many public safety bills filed this session, including measures addressing the state's sentencing laws such as making people serve close to the full term of their sentence.
"I expect that may be something that the governor may even talk about, but we need to make sure that we're sending a message to violent criminals, that if you commit a heinous crime, that you're going to be punished," Luetkemeyer said.
House lawmakers last year barely passed legislation that would legalize and regulate video gambling machines commonly found in gas stations, but it didn't make it through the Senate.
Patterson said he expects further discussion on legalizing those machines.
"I think if you just taxed and regulated, those things that we are already doing that people seem to not have a problem with, would bring in significant revenues," Patterson said.
However, Luetkemeyer does not think there is an appetite for that type of bill in the Senate.
Fallout from last year
All of these policies rest on the functionality of the legislature itself – especially the Senate.
During the regular session and a second special session, Senate Republicans used a procedural move to cut off debate – a decision that angered Democrats.
Nurrenbern said she's still unhappy with how the special or regular session ended but is hopeful the Senate will return to being a more deliberative body.
"I think it's going to be imperative on all of us to restore the institution of the Senate to the place that it's supposed to be," Nurrenbern said.
Luetkemeyer is optimistic that the Senate ultimately will have a productive session.
"I expect that the session may get off to a bit of a slower start than normal, but that's OK. I believe that we'll ultimately, you know, work through any differences that we have from last session," Luetkemeyer said.
Meanwhile, Patterson expects the House to continue its trend of being less dramatic than the Senate. He said he has a lot of respect for Aune.
"I think we've had some hiccups, but overall, I've been very pleased with the professionalism and the relationships that we've had," Patterson said.
Aune also believes the House will continue to pass bills and "when the Senate isn't able to get things across the line, we point our fingers at them."
"I sort of see that as the likely outcome of the '26 session, but it will be interesting to see how some of those animosities and the pressures of an election year play into all of the dynamics in the building," Aune said.
The 2026 legislative session is set to run through May 15.
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