SJR120 • 2026

Establishes the Stop Socialism Act

Budget Elections Taxes

Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor: Lewis, Patty; House handler: N/A
Last action: 2026-05-07
Official status: Second Read and Referred S Government Efficiency Committee
Effective date: Upon voter

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

Establishes the Stop Socialism Act

The following summaries of this bill are available: Print All Summaries Introduced Print SJR 120 - This constitutional amendment creates the "Stop Socialism Act".

What This Bill Does

The following summaries of this bill are available: Print All Summaries Introduced Print SJR 120 - This constitutional amendment creates the "Stop Socialism Act".
This constitutional amendment, if approved by the voters, prohibits any county from receiving a proportion of total state general revenue appropriations, as defined in the amendment, in excess of the county's proportional contribution of total state income and state sales taxes received by the state for any given fiscal year.
Total state general revenue appropriations shall be deemed to be allocated to a county if such moneys are directly appropriated to such county or to a political subdivision within such county, or are in any other way distributed through an agency of the state to any resident taxpayer of such county.
If in any given fiscal year a county receives less than its proportional share of total state general revenue appropriations, the difference shall be refunded to the residents of such county pro rata based on state income tax returns filed following the close of such fiscal year.

Limits and Unknowns

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Bill History

2026-05-07 S1610
Second Read and Referred S Government Efficiency Committee
2026-02-23 S424
S First Read

Official Summary Text

The following summaries of this bill are available:

Print All Summaries

Introduced

Print

SJR 120 - This constitutional amendment creates the "Stop Socialism Act".

This constitutional amendment, if approved by the voters, prohibits any county from receiving a proportion of total state general revenue appropriations, as defined in the amendment, in excess of the county's proportional contribution of total state income and state sales taxes received by the state for any given fiscal year. Total state general revenue appropriations shall be deemed to be allocated to a county if such moneys are directly appropriated to such county or to a political subdivision within such county, or are in any other way distributed through an agency of the state to any resident taxpayer of such county.

If in any given fiscal year a county receives less than its proportional share of total state general revenue appropriations, the difference shall be refunded to the residents of such county pro rata based on state income tax returns filed following the close of such fiscal year.

This amendment is identical to SJR 47 (2023).
JOSH NORBERG

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

SECOND REGULAR SESSION
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 120
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR LEWIS.
5243S.01I KRISTINA MARTIN, Secretary
JOINT RESOLUTION
Submitting to the qualified voters of Missouri, an amendment to article IV of the Constitution of
Missouri, by adding thereto one new section relating to the appropriation of state
money.
Be it resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring therein:
That at the next general election to be held in the 1
state of Missouri, on Tuesday next following the first Monday 2
in November, 2026, or at a special election to be called by 3
the governor for that purpose, there is hereby submitted to 4
the qualified voters of this state, for adoption or 5
rejection, the following amendment to article IV of the 6
Constitution of the state of Missouri:7
Section A. Article IV, Constitution of Missouri, is 1
amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as 2
section 24(a), to read as follows:3
Section 24(a). 1. The provisions of this section 1
shall be known as the "Stop Socialism Act". 2
2. The General Assembly hereby declares that socialism 3
is abhorrent to the functioning of a free and prosperous 4
society. As redistribution of wealth is the key component 5
of a socialist system, the General Assembly hereby declares 6
its intent to end the redistribution of wealth within this 7
state. Given that levying taxes for the purpose of income 8
redistribution discourages taxpayers from earning taxable 9
income, the General Assembly is enacting this section to 10
SJR 120 2
limit the state from redistributing tax revenues away from 11
those areas that produce the majority of the state's tax 12
revenues to those areas that do not produce their 13
proportionate share. The General Assembly hereby declares 14
that those areas producing lower than average tax revenues 15
should pull themselves up by their bootstraps and end their 16
reliance on government handouts and wealth redistribution. 17
3. For the purposes of this section, the following 18
terms shall mean: 19
(1) "County", any county or city not within a county 20
in this state; 21
(2) "County revenue contribution", for each fiscal 22
year, the sum of the aggregate amount of state income tax 23
remitted by resident taxpayers of the county plus the 24
aggregate amount of state sales taxes remitted from 25
transactions sourced to a location within the county, 26
divided by the total amount of state income tax and state 27
sales tax remitted in the state; 28
(3) "Net general revenue collections", all revenue 29
deposited into the general revenue fund less refunds and 30
revenues originally deposited into the general revenue fund 31
but designated by law for a specific distribution or 32
transfer to another state fund as reported by the office of 33
administration; 34
(4) "Total state general revenue appropriations", the 35
total of appropriations from net general revenue collections 36
for a fiscal year, including supplemental appropriations 37
from any regular, special, or extraordinary session from the 38
previous fiscal year from net general revenue collections, 39
passed by the general assembly and approved by the governor 40
as reported by the office of administration, except 41
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reappropriations and appropriations to pay principal and 42
interest on general obligation bonded indebtedness. 43
4. (1) For all fiscal years beginning after the 44
effective date of this section, the office of 45
administration, with the cooperation of the department of 46
revenue, shall determine the county revenue contribution for 47
each county in the state for the previous fiscal year. 48
(2) In any given fiscal year, no county shall receive 49
a proportion of total state general revenue appropriations 50
in excess of such county's county revenue contribution. 51
(3) In any given fiscal year, for any county that 52
receives a smaller proportion of total state general revenue 53
appropriations than such county's county revenue 54
contribution, the difference shall be refunded to the 55
residents of such county pro rata based on the liability 56
reported on the Missouri state income tax annual returns 57
filed following the close of such fiscal year. For the 58
purposes of this subsection, total state general revenue 59
appropriations shall be deemed to be allocated to a county 60
if such moneys are directly appropriated to such county or 61
to a political subdivision within such county, or are in any 62
other way distributed through an agency of the state to any 63
resident taxpayer of such county. 64
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