Missouri legislators on Friday delivered to Gov. Mike Parson the resolution for which he had called this week's special session.
The Senate unanimously passed House Bill 1 on Friday morning with 29 "yes" votes. The state's House of Representatives earlier this week passed the bill, which makes it possible for people to claim the sales proceeds of multiple vehicles against a new vehicle's sales tax.
A state Supreme Court ruling in June had limited the sales tax credit to one traded-in vehicle.
The newly passed legislation applies to boats, outboard motors and trailers, in addition to vehicles such as cars, trucks and motorcycles.
Parson stood in his office at the Capitol on Friday afternoon with the Kehlenbrinks, the St. Louis County family whose case over a couple trucks, a motorcycle, an SUV, a car and a sales tax credit denied by the Missouri Department of Revenue made it to the Supreme Court.
Parson said the family will have helped thousands of people in the state who otherwise would have faced an unnecessary financial burden, maybe $500 or $1,000, but "it's a big deal" for the average person.
The House bill's sponsor, Rep. Becky Ruth, D-Festus, said during the Senate's Ways and Means Committee meeting this week that people impacted by the Supreme Court's ruling would still be able to receive their tax refunds once the governor signs the legislation.
Department of Revenue leaders also said the new legislation would have no fiscal impact, as the department's been allowing for multiple vehicles to be claimed for tax credit since July 2018.
"I wasn't sure about it when we first got the call from the governor," Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, R-Jefferson City, said earlier Friday.
However, after the Ways and Means committee meeting, where he learned how things such as boats and motors were affected by the Supreme Court's ruling, "it made it clear to me that it made sense to get it done and do it in conjunction with the veto session," Bernskoetter said.
"Nobody's trying to compare this to violent crime," Parson said of the special session's accomplishment, an acknowledgement Democratic lawmakers had called him to use a special session to act upon violent crime that's particularly plagued St. Louis and Kansas City and claimed the lives of children.
"This will never be fixed by one agency," he said of combating violent crime, adding getting resources to victims' families and addressing shortages of law enforcement officers are also part of the solution.