Missouri 2022 2022 Regular Session

Missouri Senate Bill SB724 Comm Sub / Bill

Filed 03/07/2022

                     
EXPLANATION-Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in this bill is not enacted 
and is intended to be omitted in the law. 
SECOND REGULAR SESSION 
SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR 
SENATE BILL NO. 724 
101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY  
4303S.02C 	ADRIANE D. CROUSE, Secretary  
AN ACT 
To repeal section 105.145, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to financial 
statements of political subdivisions, with penalty provisions. 
 
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows: 
     Section A.  Section 105.145, RSMo, is repealed and one new 1 
section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 105.1 45, 2 
to read as follows:3 
     105.145.  1.  The following definitions shall be 1 
applied to the terms used in this section: 2 
     (1)  "Governing body", the board, body, or persons in 3 
which the powers of a political subdivision as a body 4 
corporate, or otherwise, are vested; 5 
     (2)  "Political subdivision", any agency or unit of 6 
this state, except counties and school districts, which now 7 
is, or hereafter shall be, authorized to levy taxes or 8 
empowered to cause taxes to be levied. 9 
     2.  The governing body of each political subdivision in 10 
the state shall cause to be prepared an annual report of the 11 
financial transactions of the political subdivision in such 12 
summary form as the state auditor shall prescribe by rule, 13 
except that the annual report of p olitical subdivisions 14 
whose cash receipts for the reporting period are ten 15 
thousand dollars or less shall only be required to contain 16 
the cash balance at the beginning of the reporting period, a 17   SCS SB 724 	2 
summary of cash receipts, a summary of cash disbursements  18 
and the cash balance at the end of the reporting period. 19 
     3.  Within such time following the end of the fiscal 20 
year as the state auditor shall prescribe by rule, the 21 
governing body of each political subdivision shall cause a 22 
copy of the annual fin ancial report to be remitted to the 23 
state auditor. 24 
     4.  The state auditor shall immediately on receipt of 25 
each financial report acknowledge the receipt of the report. 26 
     5.  In any fiscal year no member of the governing body 27 
of any political subdi vision of the state shall receive any 28 
compensation or payment of expenses after the end of the 29 
time within which the financial statement of the political 30 
subdivision is required to be filed with the state auditor 31 
and until such time as the notice from the state auditor of 32 
the filing of the annual financial report for the fiscal 33 
year has been received. 34 
     6.  The state auditor shall prepare sample forms for 35 
financial reports and shall mail the same to the political 36 
subdivisions of the state.  Failure of the auditor to supply 37 
such forms shall not in any way excuse any person from the 38 
performance of any duty imposed by this section. 39 
     7.  All reports or financial statements hereinabove 40 
mentioned shall be considered to be public records. 41 
     8.  The provisions of this section apply to the board 42 
of directors of every transportation development district 43 
organized under sections 238.200 to 238.275. 44 
     9.  Any political subdivision that fails to timely 45 
submit a copy of the annual financial state ment to the state  46 
auditor shall be subject to a fine of five hundred dollars 47 
per day. 48   SCS SB 724 	3 
     10.  The state auditor shall report any violation of 49 
subsection 9 of this section to the department of revenue.   50 
Upon notification from the state auditor's offic e that a  51 
political subdivision failed to timely submit a copy of the 52 
annual financial statement, the department of revenue shall 53 
notify such political subdivision by certified mail that the 54 
statement has not been received.  Such notice shall clearly 55 
set forth the following: 56 
     (1)  The name of the political subdivision; 57 
     (2)  That the political subdivision shall be subject to 58 
a fine of five hundred dollars per day if the political 59 
subdivision does not submit a copy of the annual financial 60 
statement to the state auditor's office within thirty days 61 
from the postmarked date stamped on the certified mail 62 
envelope; 63 
     (3)  That the fine will be enforced and collected as 64 
provided under subsection 11 of this section; and 65 
     (4)  That the fine will begin accruing on the thirty - 66 
first day from the postmarked date stamped on the certified 67 
mail envelope and will continue to accrue until the state 68 
auditor's office receives a copy of the financial statement. 69 
In the event a copy of the annual financi al statement is  70 
received within such thirty -day period, no fine shall accrue 71 
or be imposed.  The state auditor shall report receipt of 72 
the financial statement to the department of revenue within 73 
ten business days.  Failure of the political subdivision to  74 
submit the required annual financial statement within such 75 
thirty-day period shall cause the fine to be collected as 76 
provided under subsection 11 of this section. 77 
     11.  The department of revenue may collect the fine 78 
authorized under the provisio ns of subsection 9 of this 79   SCS SB 724 	4 
section by offsetting any sales or use tax distributions due 80 
to the political subdivision.  The director of revenue shall 81 
retain two percent for the cost of such collection.  The  82 
remaining revenues collected from such violati ons shall be  83 
distributed annually to the schools of the county in the 84 
same manner that proceeds for all penalties, forfeitures, 85 
and fines collected for any breach of the penal laws of the 86 
state are distributed. 87 
     12.  Any [transportation development district organized 88 
under sections 238.200 to 238.275 having ] political  89 
subdivision that has gross revenues of less than five 90 
thousand dollars or that has not levied or collected sales 91 
or use taxes in the fiscal year for which the annual 92 
financial statement was not timely filed shall not be 93 
subject to the fine authorized in this section. 94 
     13.  If a failure to timely submit the annual financial 95 
statement is the result of fraud or other illegal conduct by 96 
an employee or officer of the political su bdivision, the  97 
political subdivision shall not be subject to a fine 98 
authorized under this section if the statement is filed 99 
within thirty days of the discovery of the fraud or illegal 100 
conduct.  If a fine is assessed and paid prior to the filing 101 
of the statement, the department of revenue shall refund the 102 
fine upon notification from the political subdivision. 103 
     14.  If a political subdivision has an outstanding 104 
balance for fines or penalties at the time it files its 105 
first annual financial statemen t after January 1, 2022, the 106 
director of revenue shall make a one -time downward  107 
adjustment to such outstanding balance in an amount that 108 
reduces the outstanding balance by no less than ninety 109 
percent. 110   SCS SB 724 	5 
     15.  The director of revenue shall have the au thority  111 
to make a one-time downward adjustment to any outstanding 112 
penalty imposed under this section on a political 113 
subdivision if the director determines the fine is 114 
uncollectable.  The director of revenue may prescribe rules 115 
and regulations necessar y to carry out the provisions of 116 
this subsection.  Any rule or portion of a rule, as that 117 
term is defined in section 536.010, that is created under 118 
the authority delegated in this section shall become 119 
effective only if it complies with and is subject t o all of  120 
the provisions of chapter 536 and, if applicable, section 121 
536.028.  This section and chapter 536 are nonseverable, and 122 
if any of the powers vested with the general assembly 123 
pursuant to chapter 536 to review, to delay the effective 124 
date, or to disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently 125 
held unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking 126 
authority and any rule proposed or adopted after August 28, 127 
2021, shall be invalid and void. 128 
     16.  If a political subdivision with an outstanding 129 
balance for fines or penalties: 130 
     (1)  Fails to file an annual financial statement after 131 
August 28, 2021, and before January 1, 2022; or 132 
     (2)  Files an annual financial statement after August 133 
28, 2021, and before January 1, 2022, but fails to file any  134 
annual financial statement thereafter, 135 
then the director of revenue shall initiate the process to 136 
disincorporate the political subdivision under subsection 18 137 
of this section. 138 
     17.  If any resident of a political subdivision 139 
believes or knows that the political subdivision has failed 140 
to file the annual financial report required under 141   SCS SB 724 	6 
subsection 2 of this section, the resident may file an 142 
affidavit with the director of revenue that attests to the 143 
alleged failure.  The director of revenue shall e valuate the  144 
allegation and, if true, notify the political subdivision 145 
that it has thirty days to comply with subsection 2 of this 146 
section.  If the political subdivision has not complied 147 
after thirty days, the director of revenue shall initiate 148 
the process to disincorporate the political subdivision 149 
under subsection 18 of this section. 150 
     18.  (1)  The question of whether a political 151 
subdivision subject to possible disincorporation under 152 
subsection 16 or 17 of this section shall be disincorporated 153 
shall be submitted to the voters of the political 154 
subdivision.  The election upon the question shall be held 155 
on the next general election day. 156 
     (2)  No later than five o'clock p.m. on the tenth 157 
Tuesday prior to the election, the director of revenue shall  158 
notify the election authorities responsible for conducting 159 
the election according to the provisions of section 115.125 160 
and the county governing body in which the political 161 
subdivision is located. 162 
     (3)  The election authority shall give notic e of the  163 
election for eight consecutive weeks prior to the election 164 
by publication in a newspaper of general circulation 165 
published in the political subdivision or, if there is no 166 
such newspaper in the political subdivision, in the 167 
newspaper in the cou nty published nearest the political 168 
subdivision. 169 
     (4)  Any costs of submitting the question shall be paid 170 
by the political subdivision. 171   SCS SB 724 	7 
     (5)  The question shall be submitted to the voters of 172 
such city, town, or village in substantially the follo wing  173 
form: 174 
Upon the affirmative vote of a majority of the qualified 181 
voters voting on the question, the director of revenue shall 182 
file an action to disincorporate the political subdivision 183 
in the circuit court with jurisdiction over the political 184 
subdivision. 185 
     19.  In an action to disincorporate a political 186 
subdivision, the circuit court shall order: 187 
     (1)  The appointment of an administrative authority for 188 
the political subdivision, which may be another political 189 
subdivision, the state, a qualified private party, or other 190 
qualified entity; 191 
     (2)  All financial and other institutions holding funds 192 
of the political subdivision, as identified by the director 193 
of revenue, to honor the directives of the administrative 194 
authority; 195 
     (3)  The director of revenue or other party charged 196 
with distributing tax revenue to distribute the revenues and 197 
funds of the political subdivision to the administrative 198 
authority; and 199 
     (4)  The disincorporation of the political subdivision 200 
and the effective date of the disincorporation, taking into 201 
consideration a reasonable transition period. 202 
175 
176 
177 
178 
179 
   The (city/town/village) of __________ (has an 
outstanding balance for fines or penalties and) 
has failed to file an annual financial statement, 
as required by law.  Shall the (city/town/village) 
of __________ be disincorporated? 
  
180    	□ YES 	□ NO      SCS SB 724 	8 
The administrative authority shall administer all revenues 203 
under the name of the political subdivision or its agents 204 
and administer all funds collected on be half of the  205 
political subdivision.  The administrative authority shall 206 
use the revenues and existing funds to pay all debts and 207 
obligations of the political subdivision other than the 208 
penalties accrued under this section.  The circuit court  209 
shall have ongoing jurisdiction to enforce its orders and 210 
carry out the remedies under this subsection. 211 
     20.  The attorney general shall have the authority to 212 
file an action in a court of competent jurisdiction against 213 
any political subdivision that fails to comply with the  214 
provisions of this section. 215 
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