Senate amendment defeated as House bills on capital gains return to floor

Missouri lawmakers moved a step closer to cutting capital gains taxes Wednesday after the Missouri Senate returned House bills 594 and 508 to the floor with new language and defeated an amendment to one of the measures.

The bills now go to a Missouri Senate committee before a final Senate vote; if approved there they would return to the Missouri House of Representatives for either final passage or to a Senate-House conference committee.

During floor debate, Sen. Brian Williams of University City asked the amendment sponsor to withdraw the change so senators from affected districts could review it. "The amendment that you're offering will have an impact on my district, and, you know, I haven't had a chance to really work through that. It kinda caught me off guard a little bit," Williams said. "So I was hoping that you would consider pulling back that amendment and giving us an opportunity to talk about that."

The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Mike Moon of Ash Grove, was defeated. The transcript does not provide a roll-call tally or specify who moved or seconded the amendment. The clerk or Senate record may show the formal vote count; that information was not given in the meeting excerpt.

After the amendment's defeat, reporters noted the procedural path: the bills would go to a Senate committee before a final Senate vote and, depending on outcomes, return to the House for final consideration or a conference committee. The transcript also notes the Missouri Senate is about two-thirds through its session.

Reporting from the state capital, Dean Morgan.