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Bill would raise local board threshold to create special taxing districts and limit repeat ballot attempts
Summary
Representative Ben Keithley introduced House Bill 660 to change rules for creating special taxing districts, to require clearer ballot impact statements, and to pause resubmission of rejected tax proposals for two years.
Representative Ben Keithley, sponsor of House Bill 660, told the committee the measure bundles several changes aimed at increasing voter input into new local taxes and limiting what he described as "election‑cycle shopping" and the use of special taxing districts to bypass full voter approval.
Key provisions discussed included raising the local governing‑body vote threshold to two‑thirds to create Community Improvement Districts (CIDs) or Transportation Development Districts (TDDs) that levy sales taxes; a two‑year pause before the same tax proposal rejected by voters can be resubmitted; requirements that ballot proposals display the dollar impact on a $100,000 basis; and language intended to close a perceived Hancock amendment loophole used to produce effective levy increases.
Supporters such as Dennis Ganahl said jurisdictions have repeatedly returned measures to the ballot after defeat and called for a longer pause to prevent "predatory taxing." Proponents argued the changes would increase transparency and require broader consensus when a governing body chooses not to seek a direct public vote.
Opponents included the Missouri Municipal League, the Missouri Association of Counties, school boards and municipal leaders who said the bill would hamper local governments' ability to respond to infrastructure, public safety and other urgent needs and could make financing routine local improvements more difficult. Richard Sheets of the Missouri Municipal League said CIDs and TDDs were created to let affected property owners pay for improvements that would not be appropriate to tax the entire community to fund.
Speakers also debated the practical effects of ballot labeling and the dollar‑impact framing (the sponsor said $100,000 provides clearer, less fractional numbers on the ballot), and whether a two‑year or three‑year pause struck the right balance between voter protection and local flexibility. No committee vote was recorded during the hearing.
