KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On the final day of the 2022 Missouri legislative session, the Senate passed a bill to increase the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department's funding.
Senate Bill 678 requires KCMO to use 1/4 of its general revenue each fiscal year on the city's police department.
The bill, which was sponsored by Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, R-Parkville, proposed it increase from 1/5 of the city's general revenue.
Last spring, KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas and the KCMO City Council passed two ordinances that changed the appropriations of KCPD's funding.
Luetkemeyer previously told KSHB 41 News that SB 678 was in direct response to Lucas and the city council's actions.
"Fund the police department at a level that meets its modern-day funding needs," Luetkemeyer told KSHB 41 on Friday. "This is going to prevent future radical attempts by this city council to defund KCPD and make our city less safe."
While Luetkemeyer made it clear he would like to see more officers on the streets during a time of "record-high crime in Kansas City," Lucas said at the White House on Friday he plans to focus his efforts still on the community.
"I’m going to continue to instead work with neighborhood leaders, ministers, police officers and others to make sure the streets of Kansas City are safe, and I’m proud to have a partner in Washington even when Jefferson City suggests that it does not want to be," Lucas said.
The bill now heads to Missouri Gov. Mike Parson's desk, where he'll decide whether to sign it into law.
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