Bill
SJR 88
Expands a full homestead property tax exemption to 100% disabled veterans and their surviving spouses, while creating a countywide replacement tax to offset lost local revenues.
Status: Prefiled/Introduced 01-May-2025; scheduled for submission to voters (see Timeline)
Primary purpose: To amend Article X, Section 6 of the Missouri Constitution to provide a full property tax exemption for homesteads owned and occupied by certain disabled veterans (and their surviving spouses) and to set procedures for replacing lost tax revenues to local taxing authorities.
Important note on source materials
- The packet provided includes two different SJR 88 documents from different states: (1) an Alabama Senate Joint Resolution commending the Morgan County Education Retirees Association; and (2) a Missouri Senate Joint Resolution proposing a state constitutional amendment regarding property-tax exemptions for disabled veterans. This summary focuses on the Missouri constitutional amendment text described in the materials and on the property-tax exemption topic in your request.
What the amendment would do (key provisions)
- Repeals current Section 6 of Article X and adopts a new Section 6 that:
- Defines “disabled veteran” as a Missouri resident honorably separated from active service (including any U.S. Armed Forces branch, reserve components, the Missouri National Guard, or a state defense force) who has been certified by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as receiving disability compensation at the 100% rate for a permanent, service-connected disability.
- Defines “surviving spouse” as the living spouse of a deceased disabled veteran (as defined above).
- Exempts from property taxation: all real property used as a homestead by a disabled veteran or by the surviving spouse of a deceased disabled veteran (subject to limitations described below). The amendment also preserves other existing exemptions noted in Section 6 (state, local, nonprofit, charitable property, etc.).
- Provides that if a disabled veteran dies, the surviving spouse continues to receive the homestead exemption so long as the surviving spouse uses, occupies, and maintains that real property as their homestead and does not sell or relocate from it; the exemption expires if the surviving spouse sells or moves.
- Revenue replacement mechanism:
- To replace revenues lost by taxing authorities because of certain property exemptions (including those for industrial inventories and similar categories), the amendment imposes a countywide tax on property in “subclass 3 of class 1” in each county. (The text provides a formulaic process: county clerk calculates total lost revenue the first year and extends a tax at the rate necessary to produce that amount; county collector disburses proceeds to taxing authorities proportional to their lost revenues. Subsequent-year adjustments reflect changes in assessed values.)
- Limits and procedures for adjusting or decreasing the replacement tax are specified, including voter approval options and petition processes (e.g., a petition threshold of at least 8% of qualified voters who voted in the most recent gubernatorial election to force submission of a decrease).
- The amendment allows exceeding certain Constitutional tax-rate limits (Section 11(b)) if necessary to implement these replacement provisions.
Who would be affected
- Primary beneficiaries: Missouri residents who are 100% service‑connected disabled veterans (per VA certification) who use the property as a homestead, and surviving spouses who continue to occupy that homestead after the veteran’s death.
- Local taxing authorities (counties, cities, school districts, special districts): would experience lost property-tax revenues under the exemption but would receive replacement funding via the countywide tax mechanism described.
- County clerks/collectors and local election officials: responsible for calculating and administering replacement taxes and any voter-driven adjustments.
Procedural and timeline aspects
- The resolution submits the amendment to the voters at the next general election (Tuesday after the first Monday in November 2026) or at a special election called by the governor for this purpose. Adoption requires voter approval.
- If adopted, the new constitutional section would govern exemptions and the revenue-replacement mechanism going forward.
Potential impacts to note
- Provides a full homestead property-tax exemption for a narrowly defined class of disabled veterans and their surviving spouses, reducing property tax burdens for those households.
- Creates a constitutionally required county-level mechanism to offset lost revenue to local taxing authorities, shifting the cost-recovery method to a countywide tax on a specified property subclass and establishing administrative duties for local officials.
- The precise fiscal impact on counties and taxing districts would depend on the number of qualifying homesteads and the assessed values in the affected property subclass used to generate replacement revenue.
If you want, I can:
- Draft a short explainer for the ballot pamphlet language,
- Estimate potential fiscal impacts given county-level data, or
- Compare this proposed amendment to existing veteran homestead exemptions in other states.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
Sign in to ask a question.
