Signed by Governor Mike Kehoe

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to concur with Senate amendments and pass a bill that authorizes the creation of a special entertainment district in downtown St. Louis to promote economic development, tourism, and local control over infrastructure and services in Missouri.

Highlights:

• Requires candidates for the office of coroner to possess certification to do death investigations (Sec. A).

• Authorizes counties, cities, and villages with more than one million residents to enact ordinances to collect registration fees of up to $200 semiannually for owners of residential properties that are vacant and in violation of housing codes (Sec. A).

• Defines “entertainment district” as an area in a city, locally known as its downtown or central business district, that contains a maximum of 100 acres and a combination of entertainment venues such as arenas, amusement centers, auditoriums, athletic facilities, bars, hotels, music venues, restaurants, and other similar facilities (Sec. A).

• Authorizes entertainment districts to hire and train certified peace officers specifically for the district to enforce rules such as curfews, unaccompanied minors, public spaces, the operation of motor vehicles, and other matters of public safety (Sec. A).

• Prohibits entertainment districts from imposing certain taxes and provisions of law, and specifies that this prohibition does not apply to political subdivisions (Sec. A).

• Authorizes each state department to expend funds to promote, develop, and support entertainment tourism within any designated entertainment district (Sec. A).

• Makes the following specifications for funds expended by a state department for entertainment tourism (Sec. A):

• They must be derived directly or indirectly from tax revenues of the entertainment district;

• Terms for state appropriations for entertainment tourism may not exceed 27 years;

• The annual amount of appropriations for this purpose may not exceed $2.5 million for fiscal years before 2031-2032, and $4 million for fiscal years thereafter;

• Activities that promote, develop, and support entertainment tourism must be determined to have a positive net fiscal impact for the state; and

• The Director of the Department of Economic Development must make an annual report detailing whether the funded support of entertainment tourism produced a positive net fiscal impact for the state.

• Specifies that certain parts of this Act that repealed and reenacted legislation become effective on January 1, 2026 (Sec. B).

Full Bill Text