The MO legislative session ends today at 6 p.m. The filibusterers are standing firm, SJR 16 appears to be dead for this year.
Primary filibusterers were John Lamping, Ed Emery, and Rob Schaaf. The venue for this issue now switches from the General Assembly to the Missouri Transportation Alliance. An initiative petition could still have this on the ballot in Missouri.
If an initiative petition receives enough votes, Missouri residents would have had a chance to vote on the proposed one cent for transportation in November 2014. If passed, the tax would be resubmitted to the ballot after 10 years so Missourians could decide whether to continue it.
Based on the current bill language, five percent of the sales and use tax proceeds would be deposited into the County Aid Transportation Fund, which is created by the resolution. Monies in the newly created fund would be distributed to the various Missouri counties in a manner similar to how motor fuel tax proceeds are distributed to counties. The sales and use tax proceeds distributed to the counties may be used for local highways and bridges, state highway system purposes, or for county transportation system purposes (multimodal).
In a similar manner, five percent of the sales and use tax proceeds would be deposited into the Municipal Aid Transportation Fund, which is created by the resolution. Monies in the newly created fund would be distributed to the various Missouri cities, towns and villages in a manner similar to how motor fuel tax proceeds are distributed to such political subdivisions. The sales and use tax proceeds distributed to the cities, towns, and villages may be used for local roads and streets, state highway system purposes and uses, or for city transportation system purposes (multimodal).
The remaining sales and use tax proceeds (90%) would be deposited into a newly created trust fund known as the “Transportation Safety and Job Creation Fund”. Monies in the Transportation Safety and Job Creation Fund may be expended by the commission for state highway system purposes or for state transportation system purposes and uses (multimodal).
Currently, there is no dedicated funding source in the bill for public transit and other modes. The Blue Ribbon Commission Report identified $250 million a year need for public transit.
According to MoDOT’s breakdown, this tax would generate about $1.76 billion for the St. Louis region over the the 10 year timeframe. The East-West Gateway Board of Directors in partnership with the MoDOT Commission will select the projects that would be funded for the 1o year period.