Earlier this year, the Missouri General Assembly approved and the Governor signed House Bill 116, which requires all public institutions of higher education and political subdivisions to report the issuance of the following types of obligations on the Missouri Accountability Portal maintained by the Missouri Office of Administration:

• All bonds issued by any public institution of higher education, political subdivision or political subdivision’s designated authority;
• All tax increment financing obligations issued by a political subdivision or its designated authority; and
• All debt incurred by any public charter school.

On November 19, 2013, the Missouri Accountability Portal began accepting reports for bonds and other obligations issued after the effective date of House Bill 116 (August 28, 2013) via its website: http://mapyourtaxes.mo.gov/MAP/Bonds/HomePage.aspx.  The reports are required to include the date of issuance, the face amount of the issuance and the revenue stream pledged for repayment of the applicable bonds or other obligations.  Reports may also need to be filed for certain bonds and obligations issued prior to August 28, 2013.  Please consult your Gilmore & Bell attorney to determine which bonds and obligations need to be reported.

For those issuers of bonds that are required to file annual reports with the Oversight Division of the Committee on Legislative Research, the information in the most recent oversight report will include nearly everything required to be reported through the Missouri Accountability Portal.

Currently, issuers of bonds and other obligations must set up an account on the Missouri Accountability Portal website to file a report.  Gilmore & Bell is working with the Office of Administration to develop a mechanism that will allow us to file reports on our clients’ behalf; however, no such mechanism has been developed to date.

Reports are required to be filed within seven (7) days from the issuance date for new bond issuances.  However, compliance with this requirement was not possible until the Missouri Accountability Portal began accepting reports on November 19, 2013.

The new law also requires school districts to report bond issues and public charter schools to report all debt to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.  (Copies of reports submitted by school districts and public charter schools to the Missouri Accountability Portal will be automatically provided to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education).

Please contact your Gilmore & Bell attorney if you have any questions regarding the information to be reported to the Missouri Accountability Portal.  Specific questions relating to the use of the website may be directed to the Missouri Office of Administration at (573) 751-2971.

Posted: Dec 5, 2013

Gilmore Bell makes available the materials on this website for informational purposes only. These materials are general in nature, not intended as legal advice for any specific transaction and should not be relied upon or used without consulting a lawyer to consider specific circumstances or changes to the law. Read more about our website and our Terms of Use here.