Tagged: missouri legislature

Missouri lawmakers have approved legislation that would require education officials to seek grants and donations to help children with special needs such as autism.

Financial resources could be devoted to scholarships or clinical trials for behavioral interventions. Scholarships could be used to help students attend a public school outside the student's home district or a private school.

Missouri senators have given up their attempt to pass an overhaul of the some of the state's tax credit programs for businesses and developers.

Supporters of the bill set it aside Friday after Republican Sen. Brad Lager, of Savannah, spoke against it for an hour in a filibuster that could have otherwise continued until the session's mandatory end at 6 p.m. The legislation would have created tax incentives for international air cargo exports, computer data centers and investors in startup technology companies.

Missouri lawmakers have passed legislation that could patch a hole in the state budget for early childhood programs and health care for the blind.

A bill given final approval Friday would transfer $55 million from general revenues into a new fund to finance the programs. The move was necessary because the 2014 budget passed last week by lawmakers called for funding the programs with savings from the repeal of a tax break for low-income seniors and disabled residents who live in rental housing.

Missouri lawmakers have voted for a third time to reinstate local taxes on cars, trucks and boats bought from out-of-state dealers or in private transactions.

The state Supreme Court struck down such taxes in 2012 but said a local "use tax" could be levied on such purchases if local voters approved. Legislators approved proposals to reverse the ruling's effect last year and again this year. But Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed both, including the most recent one last month.

The top lawmaker in the Missouri Senate says there will be no vote this year on a revision of the state's criminal laws or a $1.2 billion bonding program. Both measures already passed the House. But Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey says they are too complex to bring up with just a few days remaining before Friday's mandatory adjournment for the 2013 session.