Kansas lawmakers hoping to entice Chiefs, Royals with last minute bill
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TOPEKA, Kan. — On the final day of the legislative session, Kansas lawmakers are trying to revise rules for Sales Tax and Revenue (STAR) bonds, to make their side of the state line more attractive to the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals.
Because the legislation’s passed the conference committee, it now needs to pass the full House and Senate Tuesday. It takes 21 votes in the State Senate and 63 votes in the State House, a simple majority in each chamber, for the bill to pass.
“I think we can get there in the House,” Stilwell Republican State House Rep. Sean Tarwater said Tuesday. “I have all the confidence in Senator Claeys to carry it over there in the Senate, and hopefully we’ll get it through.”
Tarwater’s hoping the revised STAR bond legislation would get the Chiefs or the Royals to come across the state line. Salina Republican State Senator J.R. Claeys says leaders are trying to keep the Chiefs in the metro.
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“If Jackson County is not willing to do that, and maybe they shouldn’t,” Claeys said in an interview with reporters, talking about the failed vote in April. “They have to go to their taxpayers and ask for money directly from their pockets. The state of Kansas doesn’t have to do that. We’re in a much better position where we’re not asking taxpayers to foot the bill for this, and the question has to be asked, ‘Should a single county be paying the sales tax for something that is going to benefit the entirety of the state?'”
Claeys is a Chiefs season ticket holder. He said the sports gaming fund and excess lottery revenue could help bring one of the teams over the state line.
“Then on the STAR bonds side, you have the ability to create a district where we’re going to have new revenue from new sales tax generated, so we’re not impacting taxpayers in a negative way,” he continued. “We’re not raising a tax on anyone. This is money that but for the stadium and the development around it, we would not have.”
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The Chiefs would not comment Tuesday, but Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt said this Saturday. The Royals would not give FOX4 a statement Tuesday. Tarwater said the legislation would need to pass by the end of this session day, since it’s the final day. He also alluded to there being a chance the legislature’s in session until Wednesday morning.
