SB3 authorizes tax credits for “sporting events” and the expenditure of state funds for “athletic and entertainment facility” projects.

The Senate passed SB3 on June 6, 2025, by a vote of 19 to 13. We have assigned pluses to the nays because government has no business subsidizing professional sports. Privately-owned billion-dollar organizations, such as the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals, can more than afford to build their own stadiums. They need zero handouts from taxpayers. “Economic development” is nothing other than a cliché used by corporatist cronies to steal proliferate amounts of public money (in this case, up to 50% of the cost a new or renovated stadium) and finance their corrupt “pork-barrel” projects, in violation of the principles of free-market enterprise. In addition, this bill conflicts with several provisions of the Missouri Constitution, including those against grants of public money to private persons, special law, and multiple subjects. Nevertheless, the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment were written to “promote the general Welfare” of all Americans, not to pick economic “winners” and “losers.”