By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe says he plans to concentrate on public safety and economic development in the upcoming legislative session.
Kehoe says his office plans to roll out a second public safety proposal as well as a dramatic proposal for economic development.
“Several things that will continue in the public safety realm. As you know, that was a big push for us last year. We’ve got kind of a Safer Missouri 2.0 for next year,” Kehoe tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “Economic development issues that we have; the main one of those will be we’ll be presenting a proposal to eliminate the Missouri state income tax.”
Kehoe says his proposal is responsible and claims his office will propose eliminating the state income tax by using other methods to fund state services. The governor says he understands some worry what such a proposal could do to funding state government.
“We’ll do it in a responsible way,” Kehoe says. “We’re not going to be like Kansas, nothing against them, but their plan didn’t work so well. I think we’ve got a more thought-out plan.”
The governor also wants to see a proposal by St. Joseph Rep. Brenda Shields to expand child care in the state pass this legislature this next session.
“Well, Rep. Shields has been a rock star in child care. And we’ve gotten a few pieces through last session, but there’s some more work to do,” Kehoe says. “We’ll continue to push that very hard, because it’s a big piece of our workforce issue. We have a lot of parents staying at home that are qualified and want to work, but they can’t because of lack of child care.”
Shields has sponsored a package of incentives aimed at increasing child care in Missouri. It has been approved in the Missouri House for three years in a row and for three years in a row, it has failed to pass the Senate.
The legislative session in Jefferson City begins January 7th.
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ