Investigating the economic truce in the Missouri-Kansas border war

Charlie Keegan

Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signed House Bill 2001 into law on Friday.

The new law changes the state’s STAR bond program in a way that is specifically intended to encourage the Chiefs and/or Royals to move to Kansas.

The teams began exploring options for new stadium sites outside of Jackson County, Missouri, when voters on April 2 rejected a sales tax proposal to keep the teams in the county.

Kansas politicians have stepped up their game. During a special session of the legislature on Tuesday, the Senate and House of Representatives passed a bill to strengthen the STAR bond program, which will help finance new stadiums and surrounding entertainment districts.

However, politicians in Missouri criticized Kansas’ move as a violation of a 2019 truce that calls for jobs in the metropolitan area not to be relocated between states using incentives.

“I think what we saw today was, unfortunately, my colleagues in the Kansas Legislature abandoned the ceasefire in the border war, which I think will lead to further challenges,” Quinton Lucas, mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, said Tuesday.

KSHB 41 News received copies of the ceasefire in the border war from both states.

In Missouri, the ceasefire is a law passed by the state legislature and signed by Governor Mike Parson.

In Kansas, the ceasefire is an executive order from Governor Kelly.

Both truces apply to the same counties: Johnson, Miami and Wyandotte in Kansas and Cass, Clay, Jackson and Platte in Missouri.

Both orders prevent states from using government incentives to attract businesses between the two states without creating additional jobs.

The Kansas order prohibits the state from using certain incentive programs by name, including the Promoting Employment Across Kansas (PEAK) program. It does not specifically mention STAR bonds.

That’s one reason Kansas lawmakers don’t believe the new law violates that ceasefire.

“We are one of the few that uses STAR bonds. It’s a truly unique tool that fits this situation like a glove,” House Speaker Dan Hawkins (R-Wichita) said Tuesday.

In 2022, Kelly said, the chiefs will be exempt from the ceasefire.

“When I signed the ceasefire in the border war with Missouri, the chiefs were not included,” she said in March of this year.

Lucas does not believe that politicians should choose which companies are covered by the ceasefire.

“Is the next big industrial enterprise, the next big factory, the next big something on the sun subject to the ceasefire?” asked Lucas.

Neither ceasefire provides for punishment for violations, but either state may withdraw from the ceasefire if it believes the other state has committed a violation.