Pre-Filing of Legislation for 2026 Session has begun

The Missouri General Assembly began pre-filing legislation on December 1st for the 2026 Missouri Regular Legislative Session, which begins at noon on Wednesday January 7th in Jefferson City. As usual, many bills were pre-filed on the first day, with the House filing 500 House Bills and 25 House Joint Resolutions and the Senate filing 560 Senate Bills and 39 Senate Joint Resolutions on December 1st, the first day of pre-filing, and a total of 1,218 bills and joint resolutions having been filed as of today, December 4th.

Our office reviews every bill as it is filed and tracks any piece of legislation that could impact your industry. Any bills of particular interest will be emailed to you in full bill text form for your review. We will also be sending out a link to your individualized bill tracking list at the beginning of the year, which will provide you with a helpful tool for real-time updates of the legislation we are tracking for you. As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions, concerns, or comments regarding legislation.

With this being the Second Regular Session of the 103rd General Assembly, we expect the legislative action to ramp up quickly as both chambers will be operating under rules adopted last session and the committees formed last year will remain intact. Generally, the House will refer bills and move them through committees quickly, likely filling up an active floor calendar in the first three weeks of session. On the other hand, multiple factors promise to complicate the Senate’s operation moving into the new session. After the 2025 First Regular Session ended with the use of a procedural maneuver to stop a filibuster and call an immediate vote on bills related to abortion restrictions and employment law, the Governor called the General Assembly back for two Special Sessions over the interim, during which the legislature addressed very polarizing issues such as Congressional Redistricting, Initiative Petition Reform, and Property Taxation. We expect that the fractured relationships, hard feelings, and emotional fallout from the end of the Regular Session and Special Sessions will cause the Senate to move slowly during the first few weeks of Session.

Likely Priorities for Leadership in 2026

Although Republican leadership has not yet publicized an agenda of priorities for the 2026 Session, we fully expect the focus of debate to be centered on tax policy at all levels. Governor Mike Kehoe (R) has been publicly pushing a plan to phase out the state income tax. The Governor has not yet provided details of his plan, but we are aware he is working with House and Senate leadership with plans to make a full push this year. Any effort to reduce the state income tax will need a corresponding tax offset, which would likely come from a statewide sales tax on services. If a tax offset is planned, this would subject any legislation to a vote of the people, as voters would need to amend the Constitution to repeal its current prohibition on taxes on services.

Public and private education is also likely to garner significant discussion. A state task force has been meeting since this summer with plans to submit a report in December 2026 with recommendations on modifying the existing school finance system, often referred to as the “school foundation formula.” Another complication to school funding discussions is the public funding of private education scholarships (MO Scholars), which is administered by the State Treasurer. Last Session, the Governor and General Assembly approved $50M in state funds for the private school scholarships, and the State Treasurer is seeking $100M in funding for the next fiscal year.

Lastly, the legislature is expected to tackle the issue of county property taxation, which includes local assessment procedures and tax rates. The House has been holding committee hearings on this topic over the interim and will have a report on recommendations forthcoming. Many expect the Senate in January to focus on the process and powers of the Missouri State Tax Commission and potentially make statutory changes to the laws governing the Commission’s equalization of taxes.

2026 Dates of Interest

• January 7, 2026 – First Day of the Legislative Session

• January 19, 2026 – No Session (MLK Jr. observance)

• March 16-20 – 2026 Legislative Spring Break

• April 6, 2026 – No Session (Easter Break)

• May 15, 2026 – Last Day of Legislative Session

Initiative Petitions and Ballot Questions for 2026

Thus far, 147 initiative petitions and 4 referendum petitions have been filed with the Secretary of State, with the Secretary of State thus far approving 95 initiative petitions for circulation of signatures and 1 referendum petition for signatures.

The first step in the process is to file an initiative petition, followed by a public comment period, and then approval for circulation. The initiative will be put on the ballot in 2026, provided it obtains enough signatures during the circulation process.

Ballot Questions Placed on Ballot (to date)

Abortion Restrictions (HJR 73 from 2025)

Requires Jackson County Assessor Be Elected (HJR 23)

Initiative Petition Reform (HJR 3)

Citizen Initiative Petitions That May Be On Ballot:

Employment Law – minimum wage, paid sick leave, and local authority

Congressional Redistricting Referendum (HB 1)

Initiative Petition 2026-047

Initiative Petition 2026-047 has been identified as the primary ballot initiative to amend the Missouri Constitution relating to minimum wage and sick leave provisions. Secretary of State Denny Hoskins has certified the petition for circulation. Supporters of the petition have until May 3, 2026, to submit the required 170,215 signatures to the Secretary of State for certification and placement on the ballot. A full copy of 2026-047 is attached here for your review.

Some of the more important constitutional changes that would be enacted if voters approve 2026-047 include:

Setting a $15 minimum wage starting January 1, 2027, with annual automatic increases for inflation;

Imposing a new paid sick leave mandate on private employers, while exempting state and local government employers from all such obligations;

Authorizing enforcement through lawsuits and new regulations;

Prohibiting the legislature from clarifying these mandates; and

Allowing local governments over 10,000 in population and all counties to enact more costly wage or leave standards.

This petition differs from Prop A (2024) in that it adds the ability for certain municipalities to impose minimum wages above the state minimum, and it would enshrine these changes in the Missouri Constitution, as opposed to Missouri statutes, making it almost impossible to repeal the changes once enacted.

Initiative Petition 2026-047 Background – How We Got Here and Where We Are Heading

As you may recall, Missouri voters approved Prop A in November 2024, which created new statutory – as opposed to constitutional – requirements relating to minimum wage, sick leave, and civil causes of action against employers that violated those requirements.

At the end of the 2025 legislative session, after many hours of negotiations between Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats failed to produce amendments to Prop A that both sides could agree upon, the Senate invoked the previous question, a rarely used cloture motion, to cut off debate and defeat a Democratic filibuster to vote on and pass HB 567, which maintained Prop A’s increase of the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour but removed Prop A’s future minimum wage adjustments based on CPI and removed all paid sick leave provisions, including the civil and criminal penalties.

The General Assembly’s nearly full repeal of Prop A, coupled with the procedural use of the previous question, caused an almost immediate reaction from labor groups and supporters of Prop A to file multiple initiative petitions relating to minimum wage, sick leave, work schedules, and other worker issues. Over time, support has coalesced around 2026-047 and its provisions.

While we expect some possible resistance and challenges to some of the signatures collected, we anticipate that supporters of 2026-047 will collect the necessary number of signatures to get the measure added to the 2026 ballot. Because the petition will ask voters to approve constitutional changes, there is little to nothing the General Assembly can do before or after the ballot to change 2026-047 if enacted. Business groups engaged on the issue, including the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, Associated Industries of Missouri, and other associations, believe the only options are to defeat the ballot measure outright or to place a competing measure on the ballot and pass the same. Current consensus among the groups is that focusing all attention and financial resources toward defeating 2026-047 outright is preferable to competing ballot measures. We will continue to keep you updated on this matter as it develops.