A proposed constitutional amendment has been filed by a veteran Missouri lawmaker, that would place the conservation sales tax on the statewide ballot.
State Sen. Brian Munzlinger, R-Williamstown, filed the Senate joint resolution on Friday in Jefferson City.
Munzlinger is the Senate Majority Caucus Whip.
His proposal calls for the conservation sales tax to be placed on the statewide ballot in 2020, and every ten years after that.
Munzlinger notes the conservation sales tax was first approved by Missouri voters in November 1976, and that it hasn’t been voted on again since.
December 1 is the first day for Missouri lawmakers to pre-file bills for the 2018 session, which begins on January 3 at noon.
The conservation tax is a separate tax from the one-tenth-of-one percent parks, soils and water sales tax that was created through a constitutional amendment. That tax was first approved by Missouri voters in 1984, and was earmarked specifically for the state park system and efforts to stop soil erosion.
Missouri voters have reapproved it four times: in 1988, 1996, 2006 and 2016.
That tax had strong, bipartisan support again in 2016.