ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Today, State Rep. Brad Christ (R-St. Louis County) called on Governor Mike Kehoe to summon the General Assembly into a special session to pass property tax reform, after certain measures that cleared both the House and Senate by overwhelming bipartisan margins collapsed in the closing days of the 2026 session without becoming law.

Both chambers and parties spent the year advancing reform by lopsided margins. But the two chambers’ bills merged into a single vehicle that went to a conference committee in the session’s final days, and that compromise never secured the Senate signatures needed to finish. The session adjourned with nothing on the Governor’s desk.

“These weren’t party-line fights. Republicans and Democrats agreed the system is broken, and then the clock ran out during a Senate filibuster,” said Christ. “In St. Louis County, families opened assessment notices and saw their home values jump overnight, with no inspection, no explanation, and no real way to fight it. We had the fix written and we had the votes. It died on the calendar, not on the merits. That’s not a reason to make homeowners wait another year.”

Christ said a focused special session could pass common sense provisions that already cleared one or both chambers, including measures such as:

• Stop forcing seniors to re-apply every year for the homestead tax freeze. Once a senior qualifies, the protection stays — automatically — until they move or pass away, instead of being lost over a single missed form. (SB 1410 §137.1050; SBs 1066 & 1088; HB 2780.)
• Put the burden of proof on the assessor, not the homeowner. When a computer-generated valuation is challenged, the assessor — not the property owner — must prove the number is right, for all non-agricultural property. (SB 1410 §137.115; SBs 1066 & 1088; HB 2780/2178.)
• End drive-by tax increases. Before any non-agricultural assessment can jump more than 15 percent, the assessor must physically inspect the property — a drive-by look doesn’t count. (SB 1410; SBs 1066 & 1088; HB 2780.)
• Cap the year-to-year spike on your car and truck. For vehicles valued under $50,000, the assessment can’t exceed the prior year’s — ending the personal property tax jumps that hit households every year. (SB 1410 §137.115.9.)
• Move tax-increase elections to November. End the low-turnout April and August special elections that taxing entities use to pass levies while most voters aren’t watching. (HB 2780; HB 2668.)
• Put the real dollar cost on the ballot. Every property tax measure must state what it truly costs per $100,000 of home value — and no measure can be labeled “no tax increase” unless that’s true. (SB 1410 §137.067; HB 2668; SBs 1066 & 1088.)
• Stop your tax dollars from funding the campaign for your own tax increase. Close the loophole that lets local governments spend public money on one-sided “educational” mailers and materials promoting their own property tax hikes. (HB 2668; strengthens Missouri’s existing public-funds-for-advocacy ban, §115.646.)

“None of this is radical. Most of it passed one or both chambers already,” Christ said. “A short, focused session gets it across the finish line. The longer we wait, the longer Missourians wait for the tax relief they desperately need.”

Christ urged the Governor to set a narrow agenda built on the provisions with proven support in both chambers and pledged to work with members of both parties to move a bill quickly.

About Rep. Brad Christ:
Representative Brad Christ, a Republican, represents part of St. Louis County (District 96) in the Missouri House of Representatives, where he serves as Chair of the Emerging Issues Committee and a member of the Special Committee on Tax Policy. A St. Louis native and longtime businessman, he lives in St. Louis County with his wife Erin and their four children. For more information, please contact Rep. Christ at 573-751-2150 or by email at Brad.Christ@House.Mo.Gov.