JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri lawmakers will kick off a special session Monday to consider aid for tornado victims and a package of financial incentives aimed at keeping the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals from leaving the state for new or improved facilities in neighboring Kansas.

Gov. Mike Kehoe announced the special session Tuesday , less than two weeks after a deadly tornado hit St. Louis and the Legislature wrapped up its work without giving final approval to a late-developing plan that would authorize state bonds for the Chiefs and Royals valued at up to half the cost of the stadium projects.

State law allows special sessions to last up to 60 days. While Kehoe did not set a deadline for lawmakers, he urged lawmakers to act quickly, especially to approve disaster relief for victims of recent storms that have raked the state, including the May 16 tornado that killed five in St. Louis and wrecked thousands of structures.

People are also reading…

To help those victims, the governor is proposing legislation that would allow a $5,000 income tax deduction for affected homeowners and renters to help offset the cost of insurance policy deductibles. He also is seeking a $25 million appropriation to expand eligibility for a state emergency housing assistance program for people living in areas covered by state requests for presidential disaster declarations.

St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer applauded Kehoe’s call for disaster assistance. “We are grateful the governor has heard our concerns,” she said. “The need is overwhelming, but this is a step in the right direction.”

But Aldermanic President Megan Green said the $25 million isn’t very much. “They need to do more for uninsured and underinsured folks,” she said.

Kehoe’s special session agenda also includes spending on construction projects around the state, including $25 million to help fund a nuclear research reactor at the University of Missouri’s flagship campus. That’s half the amount that was included in a budget bill that failed to pass the House amid concerns about state spending and conflicts with the Senate.

Other proposed projects that will get another look include a 200-bed mental health facility in Kansas City and new livestock barns at the Missouri State Fairgrounds. Other projects across Missouri that were depending on state funding will not be considered, Kehoe said, including at least two hospitals facing potential closure.

‘The risk is real’

Kehoe’s biggest ask of lawmakers, and likely the most controversial, is subsidizing new stadium projects for both the Kansas City Royals and Chiefs.

Missouri officials are scrambling to come up with a stadium offer to team owners because Kansas lawmakers last year authorized bonds for up to 70% of the cost of new stadiums, paying them off over 30 years with revenues from sports betting, Kansas Lottery ticket sales, and new sales and alcohol taxes.

“If Missouri does not put some sort of offer forward,” Kehoe said, “I think the risk is real that they don’t stay here.”

The Chiefs and Royals have played professional football and baseball for five decades in side-by-side stadiums in eastern Kansas City in Jackson County, Missouri, drawing fans from both sides of the split metropolitan area. Their stadium leases run until 2031, and Royals owner John Sherman has said the team won’t play at Kauffman Stadium beyond the 2030 season.

Jackson County voters turned down a sales tax extension last year that would have helped finance a $2 billion ballpark district for the Royals in downtown Kansas City and an $800 million renovation of the Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium. That prompted Kansas officials to put together an offer and forced Missouri officials to recalculate their plans.

The Chiefs and Royals are part of a new round of stadium construction that is underway for professional sports teams across the U.S., with taxpayers often helping to pay the multibillion-dollar tabs. Many economists contend public funding for stadiums isn’t worth it, because sports tend to divert discretionary spending away from other forms of entertainment rather than generate new income.

But Kehoe said the teams drive “billions of dollars in economic activity and tourism.” Supporters of the projects also point to the sense of community and national attention that sports teams can bring, noting the three recent Super Bowls won by the Chiefs and the Royals’ World Series title a decade ago.

Kehoe also argued the entire state has a stake in keeping the two teams.

“The Kansas City Chiefs and Royals are Missouri’s teams,” he said.

The proposal would allow Missouri to make 30 years of bond payments equal to the annual state tax revenue generated by the teams in the year before their application for state aid. It also authorizes up to $50 million of tax credits for the stadium projects. Local governments also would have to provide some aid for the teams. The location and total cost of the projects are not specified in the proposal.

Lingering tensions

The prospects for the special session are uncertain because of lingering tensions in the Missouri Senate. In the final days of the regular session, majority Republicans used rare procedural moves to shut down Democratic opposition and force passage of two measures. One repeals a paid sick leave law approved last November by voters. The other authorizes a referendum on repealing a voter-approved abortion-rights amendment. Democrats vowed to retaliate by slowing down the Senate for a year to come.

Kehoe on Tuesday acknowledged the potential issues his stadium-funding, disaster relief and budget plans might face. He said he has spoken with House and Senate leadership about how to get the proposals across the finish line.

Because of the acrimony in the Senate, all legislation for the special session will start in the upper chamber, Kehoe said, with the House debating whatever bills can make it through.

“There are some raw nerves out there and some wounded feelings and I’m asking them to consider that these initiatives that we will put before them are very time sensitive and very needy,” Kehoe said. “I think it’s appropriate to put these forward and let the legislature try to do what it does and rebuild those relationships to the extent possible, but understand that the need, whether it’s in a disaster community or on the economic development, is very real and very time sensitive.”

Senate Majority Leader Tony Luetkemeyer, a Parkville Republican, said the items in the call for a special session are all things lawmakers should cooperate on.

“The governor’s call focuses on providing disaster relief to families devastated by recent storms, funding cancer research at our state’s flagship university, and keeping Missouri’s beloved professional sports teams in our state,” Luetkemeyer said. “I’m hopeful the Senate will rise to the occasion.”

Includes reporting by The Associated Press, Missouri Independent, Kansas City Star and Post-Dispatch.