Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signed House Bill 2001 into law on Friday.
The new law modifies the state’s STAR bond program in a way to specifically attract the Chiefs and/or Royals to relocate to Kansas.
The teams began exploring options for new stadium sites outside of Jackson County, Missouri, when voters rejected a sales tax proposal to keep the teams in the county on April 2.
Kansas leaders stepped up. During a special legislative session Tuesday, the Senate and House passed a bill to beef up the STAR bond program in a way that could help pay for new stadiums and surrounding entertainment districts.
But Missouri leaders criticized Kansas’ move as a violation of a truce between the states agreed upon in 2019 not to relocate jobs in the metropolitan area between the states using incentives.
“I think what we saw today was, regrettably, my peers in the Kansas legislature abandoning the Border War truce, which I think will create more challenges,” Kansas City, Mo., Mayor Quinton Lucas said Tuesday.
KSHB 41 News obtained copies of the Border War truce from both states.
In Missouri, the truce is a law the legislature passed and Governor Mike Parson signed into law.
In Kansas, the truce 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 the states from using state-level incentives to attract companies between the two states without adding 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 name STAR bonds specifically.
This is partly why Kansas legislators don’t believe the new law violates this truce.
“We’re one of the only ones who use STAR bonds. It’s a really unique tool that really fits this situation like a glove,” explained Speaker of the House Dan Hawkins (R-Wichita) Tuesday.
In 2022, Kelly said the Chiefs were exempt from the truce.
“When I signed the Border War truce with Missouri, it didn't include the Chiefs,” she said that March.
Lucas does not believe leaders should pick and choose which businesses fall under the truce.
“Is the next big industrial business, is the next big factory, is the next big something under the sun under the truce?” Lucas asked.
Neither truce has a penalty written into the agreement to enforce any violations. However, each state can leave the truce if they feel the other state has made a violation.
