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JEFFERSON CITY — In his first legislative session as chief executive, Gov. Mike Kehoe got much of what he asked for from a Legislature largely aligned with the new governor.

At the top of the Republican’s list of wins was a state takeover of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and $50 million to expand the MOScholars school voucher program.

Despite those accomplishments, though, the governor was unable to shepherd through an incentive plan designed to keep the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals in Missouri. The governor is expected to call a special session for June to finish the package.

Lawmakers will be coming back to the capital city following a dramatic final week of the regular legislative session.

Republicans moved to repeal both the abortion-rights language in the Missouri Constitution and the paid sick leave law voters approved last year.

On Wednesday, Senate Republicans slammed the door shut on debate on the two issues and approved them both.

The moves help set the political stage in the state moving forward.

Voters will get the final say on whether to repeal abortion rights. An election on the repeal is set for Nov. 3, 2026. Abortion-rights supporters formed a political action committee called “Stop the Ban” on Thursday.

And, in response to the Republican bill repealing sick leave, which Kehoe is expected to sign, the group Jobs with Justice Ballot Fund filed a proposed ballot initiative Thursday to enshrine paid sick leave and minimum wage increases in the state constitution.

But even without another vote to reinstate paid sick leave in Missouri, the issue is expected to linger into the 2026 elections.

“Our work starts today to make sure that Missourians know that we are the ones fighting for them,” said Rep. Ashley Aune, D-Kansas City, on Thursday.

Kehoe, meanwhile, said he was a “big fan” of the bill doing away with the mandatory sick leave.

“It’s a huge issue to both small and large business,” Kehoe said Friday.

Passage of the two controversial plans responding to last year’s voter-enacted measures were only two priorities on a long list to pass this year.

Legislators also zeroed out Missouri’s portion of the capital gains tax — a measure that could cost state coffers over $100 million annually, according to a nonpartisan fiscal analysis.

“When you cut taxes, people reinvest that money,” said House Speaker Jonathan Patterson, R-Lee’s Summit.

Republicans tied the capital gains cut to passage of a sales tax exemption on menstrual products and an increase to the circuit breaker tax credit for low-income seniors — two policies Democrats have long supported.

“How dare y’all?” asked Raychel Proudie, D-Ferguson, during floor debate. “We’ve had ample opportunity to pass this year after year after year after year. But only until it’s attached to something that’s gonna work for rich folks, do we care enough about this. Gross.”

Capital projects, stadiums

While much attention was directed at the abortion and paid sick leave issues, controversy also surrounded the death of a $500 million spending bill for capital projects.

On Friday, May 9, the spending package imploded in the House as leaders refused to bring it up for a vote.

Then on Monday, a bipartisan group of senators responded by holding up business in the upper chamber, sounding off on the House action.

Among the casualties of the House decision was $7 million to go toward a dental school expansion at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph.

Noting the need for more dentists in the area, Sen. Rusty Black, R-Chillicothe, said: “You gotta go to a vet to get your teeth worked on where we’re at because there’s not enough of them there.”

Other projects to hit the cutting room floor included $50 million for a new nuclear research reactor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, $9 million to address floodplain issues in Maryland Heights, and $16 million to renovate National Guard facilities at Jefferson Barracks.

“This inaction ... it hurts the people that we’re supposed to be here taking care of,” said Senate Appropriations Chair Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield.

The $500 million bill’s failure came as momentum was building for a separate package to devote hundreds of millions of dollars to professional sports stadiums.

The St. Louis Cardinals could also access funds for stadium renovations under the proposal.

But House Democrats criticized Republican priorities.

“We should be funding public education, we should be funding health care, we should be doing a lot of other things rather than funding the Chiefs and the ... Royals in Kansas City,” said Rep. Jo Doll, D-Webster Groves.

After it cleared the House, the chamber adjourned for the day. The measure was then brought to the Senate floor, where Hough helped block action.

Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck, D-St. Louis County, and Sen. Steven Roberts Jr., D-St. Louis, poked House members for adjourning and leaving the Capitol Tuesday to see Post Malone and Jelly Roll in concert in St. Louis.

“Must be nice,” Roberts said.

“Just pass this and we’re gonna go to a concert,” Beck said.

The stadium proposal ultimately died.

With lawmakers striking out on the sports bill, Kehoe said he would call a special session in June as part of the state’s bid to fight off Kansas” attempt to poach the teams.

Kehoe, at a news conference Friday, also didn’t dismiss the possibility of reconsidering the capital projects budget that House lawmakers killed.

“Everything is on the table,” Kehoe said.