To repeal sections 99.350, 99.420 and 99.820, RSMo 1994, relating to the powers and liabilities of redevelopment authorities, and to enact in lieu thereof three new sections relating to the same subject.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI, AS FOLLOWS:

     Section A. Sections 99.350, 99.420 and 99.820, RSMo 1994, are repealed and three new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 99.350, 99.420 and 99.820, to read as follows:

     99.350. 1. The powers hereunder vested in each land clearance for redevelopment authority shall be exercised by the board of commissioners thereof. A majority of the commissioners shall constitute a quorum of such board for the purpose of conducting business and exercising the powers of the authority and for all other purposes. Action may be taken by the board upon a vote of a majority of the commissioners present, unless in any case the bylaws of the authority shall require a larger number. Meetings of the board of an authority may be held anywhere within the perimeter boundaries of the area of operation of the authority.

     2. The commissioners of an authority shall elect a chairman and vice chairman from among the commissioners; however, the first chairman shall be designated by the mayor. An authority may employ an executive director, technical experts and such other officers, agents and employees, permanent and temporary, as it may require, and shall determine their qualifications, duties and compensation. For such legal services as it may require, an authority may call upon the chief law officer of the communities within its area of operation or may employ its own counsel and legal staff. An authority may delegate to one or more of its agents or employees such powers or duties as it may deem proper.

     3. No commissioner or employee of an authority shall incur personal liability for any action taken by such commissioner or employee in exercising or causing the authority to exercise the powers of such authority.

     99.420. An authority shall constitute a public body corporate and politic, exercising public and essential governmental functions, and having all the powers necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of this law, including the following powers in addition to others herein granted:

     (1) To sue and to be sued; to have a seal and to alter the same at pleasure; to have perpetual succession; to make and execute contracts and other instruments necessary or convenient to the exercise of the powers of the authority; and to make and from time to time amend and repeal bylaws, rules and regulations, not inconsistent with this law, to carry out the provisions of this law;

     (2) To prepare or cause to be prepared and recommend redevelopment plans and urban renewal plans to the governing body of the community or communities within its area of operation and to undertake and carry out land clearance projects and urban renewal projects within its area of operation;

     (3) To arrange or contract for the furnishing or repair, by any person or agency, public or private, of services, privileges, works, streets, roads, public utilities or other facilities for or in connection with a land clearance project or urban renewal project; and notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this law or any other provision of law, to agree to any conditions that it may deem reasonable and appropriate attached to federal financial assistance and imposed pursuant to federal law relating to the determination of prevailing salaries or wages or compliance with labor standards, in the undertaking or carrying out of a land clearance project or urban renewal project, and to include in any contract let in connection with such a project provisions to fulfill such of the conditions as it may deem reasonable and appropriate;

     (4) Within its area of operation, to purchase, lease, obtain options upon, acquire by gift, grant, bequest, devise, eminent domain or otherwise, any real or personal property or any interest therein, including fee simple absolute title, together with any improvements thereon, necessary or incidental to a land clearance project or urban renewal project; to hold, improve, clear or prepare for redevelopment or urban renewal any such property; to develop, construct, reconstruct, rehabilitate, repair or improve residences, houses, buildings, structures and other facilities; to sell, lease, exchange, transfer, assign, subdivide, retain for its own use, mortgage, pledge, hypothecate or otherwise encumber or dispose of any real or personal property or any interest therein; to enter into contracts with redevelopers of property and with other public agencies containing covenants, restrictions and conditions regarding the use of such property for residential, commercial, industrial, recreational purposes or for public purposes in accordance with the redevelopment or urban renewal plan and such other covenants, restrictions and conditions as the authority may deem necessary to prevent a recurrence of blighted or insanitary areas or to effectuate the purposes of this law; to make any of the covenants, restrictions, or conditions of the foregoing contracts covenants running with the land, and to provide appropriate remedies for any breach of any such covenants, or conditions, including the right in the authority to terminate such contracts and any interest in the property created pursuant thereto; to borrow money and issue bonds and provide security for loans or bonds; to insure or provide for the insurance of any real or personal property or operations of the authority against any risks or hazards, including the power to pay premiums on any such insurance; and to enter into any contracts necessary to effectuate the purposes of this law; provided, however, that no statutory provision with respect to the acquisition, clearance or disposition of property by other public bodies shall restrict an authority or other public bodies exercising powers hereunder, in such functions, unless the legislature shall specifically so state;

     (5) To prepare a workable program;

     (6) To make plans for carrying out a program of voluntary repair and rehabilitation of buildings and improvements, plans for the enforcement of state and local laws, codes, and regulations relating to the use of land and the use and occupancy of buildings and improvements, and to the compulsory repair, rehabilitation, demolition, or removal of buildings and improvements; the authority may develop, test and report methods and techniques, and carry out demonstrations and other activities, for the prevention and the elimination of insanitary, blighted, deteriorated or deteriorating areas;

     (7) To invest any funds held in reserves or sinking funds or any funds not required for immediate disbursement, in property or securities in which savings banks may legally invest funds subject to their control; to redeem its bonds at the redemption price, all bonds so redeemed or purchased to be canceled;

     (8) To borrow money and to apply for and accept advances, loans, grants, contributions and any other form of financial assistance from the federal government, the state, county, municipality or other public body or from any sources public or private, for the purposes of this law, to give such security as may be required and to enter into and carry out contracts in connection therewith; an authority, notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, may include in any contract for financial assistance with the federal government for a land clearance or urban renewal project such conditions imposed pursuant to federal law as the authority may deem reasonable and appropriate and which are not inconsistent with the purposes of this law;

     (9) Acting through one or more commissioners or other persons designated by the authority, to conduct examinations and investigations and to hear testimony and take proof under oath at public or private hearings on any matter material for its information; to administer oaths, issue subpoenas requiring the attendance of witnesses or the production of books and papers and to issue commissions for the examination of witnesses who are outside of the state or unable to attend before the authority, or excused from attendance; to make available to appropriate agencies, including those charged with the duty of abating or requiring the correction of nuisances or like conditions or of demolishing unsafe or insanitary structures or eliminating substandard or insanitary conditions or conditions of blight within its area of operation, its findings and recommendations with regard to any building or property where conditions exist which are dangerous to the public health, safety, morals or welfare;

     (10) Within its area of operation, to make or have made all surveys, studies and plans, but not including the preparation of a general plan for the community, necessary to the carrying out of the purposes of this law and in connection therewith to enter into or upon any land, building, or improvement thereon for such purposes and to make soundings, test borings, surveys, appraisals and other preliminary studies and investigations necessary to carry out its powers but such entry shall constitute no cause of action for trespass in favor of the owner of such land, building or improvement except for injuries resulting from wantonness or malice; and to contract or cooperate with any and all persons or agencies, public or private, in the making and carrying out of the surveys, appraisals, studies and plans;

     (11) To prepare plans and provide reasonable assistance for the relocation of families displaced from a land clearance project area or an urban renewal project area, to the extent essential for acquiring possession of and clearing or renewing the area or parts thereof;

     (12) To make such expenditures as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this law; and to make expenditures from funds obtained from the federal government without regard to any other laws pertaining to the making and approval of appropriations and expenditures;

     (13) To delegate to a municipality or other public body any of the powers or functions of the authority with respect to the planning or undertaking of a land clearance project or urban renewal project in the area in which the municipality or public body is authorized to act, and the municipality or public body is hereby authorized to carry out or perform such powers or functions for the authority;

     (14) To exercise all powers or parts or combinations of powers necessary, convenient or appropriate to undertake and carry out land clearance, redevelopment and urban renewal plans and projects and all the powers herein granted;

     (15) To loan the proceeds of the bonds or temporary notes hereinafter authorized to provide for the purchase, construction, extension and improvement of a project by a private or public developer pursuant to a development contract approved by the authority;

     (16) To acquire by gift, grant, devise, lease, eminent domain, or otherwise, any interest in real property, necessary or incidental to a land clearance project or urban renewal project, which is contaminated with one or more hazardous substances or is otherwise polluted; and to remediate environmental problems, own, manage, maintain, convey, lease, clear or take any other action with regard to such contaminated or polluted real property.

     99.820. 1. A municipality may:

     (1) By ordinance introduced in the governing body of the municipality within fourteen to ninety days from the completion of the hearing required in section 99.825, approve redevelopment plans and redevelopment projects, and designate redevelopment project areas pursuant to the notice and hearing requirements of sections 99.800 to 99.865. No redevelopment project shall be approved unless a redevelopment plan has been approved and a redevelopment area has been designated prior to or concurrently with the approval of such redevelopment project and the area selected for the redevelopment project shall include only those parcels of real property and improvements thereon substantially benefited by the proposed redevelopment project improvements;

     (2) Make and enter into all contracts necessary or incidental to the implementation and furtherance of its redevelopment plan or project;

     (3) Within a redevelopment area, subject to any constitutional limitations, acquire by purchase, donation, lease or eminent domain, own, convey, lease, mortgage, or dispose of, land and other property, real or personal, or rights or interests therein, and grant or acquire licenses, easements and options with respect thereto, all in the manner and at such price the municipality or the commission determines is reasonably necessary to achieve the objectives of the redevelopment plan. No conveyance, lease, mortgage, disposition of land or other property, acquired by the municipality, or agreement relating to the development of the property shall be made except upon the adoption of an ordinance by the governing body of the municipality. Furthermore, no conveyance, lease, mortgage, or other disposition of land or agreement relating to the development of property shall be made without making public disclosure of the terms of the disposition and all bids and proposals made in response to the municipality's request. The procedures for obtaining such bids and proposals shall provide reasonable opportunity for any person to submit alternative proposals or bids;

     (4) Within a redevelopment area, clear any area by demolition or removal of existing buildings and structures;

     (5) Within a redevelopment area, renovate, rehabilitate, or construct any structure or building;

     (6) Install, repair, construct, reconstruct, or relocate streets, utilities, and site improvements essential to the preparation of the redevelopment area for use in accordance with a redevelopment plan;

     (7) Within a redevelopment area, fix, charge, and collect fees, rents, and other charges for the use of any building or property owned or leased by it or any part thereof, or facility therein;

     (8) Accept grants, guarantees, and donations of property, labor, or other things of value from a public or private source for use within a redevelopment area;

     (9) Acquire and construct public facilities within a redevelopment area;

     (10) Incur redevelopment costs and issue obligations;

     (11) Make payment in lieu of taxes, or a portion thereof, to taxing districts. If payments in lieu of taxes, or a portion thereof, are made to taxing districts, those payments shall be made, from the special allocation fund, to all districts within the area selected for a redevelopment project on a basis which is proportional to the current collections of revenue which each taxing district receives from real property in the area selected for a redevelopment project;

     (12) If any member of the governing body of the municipality, a member of a commission established pursuant to subsection 2 of this section, or an employee or consultant of the municipality, involved in the planning and preparation of a redevelopment plan, or redevelopment project for a redevelopment area or proposed redevelopment area, owns or controls an interest, direct or indirect, in any property included in any redevelopment area, or proposed redevelopment area, he or she shall disclose the same in writing to the clerk of the municipality, and shall also so disclose the dates, terms, and conditions of any disposition of any such interest, which disclosures shall be acknowledged by the governing body of the municipality and entered upon the minutes books of the governing body of the municipality. If an individual holds such an interest then that individual shall refrain from any further official involvement in regard to such redevelopment plan, redevelopment project or redevelopment area, from voting on any matter pertaining to such redevelopment plan, redevelopment project or redevelopment area, or communicating with other members concerning any matter pertaining to that redevelopment plan, redevelopment project or redevelopment area. Furthermore, no such member or employee shall acquire any interest, direct or indirect, in any property in a redevelopment area or proposed redevelopment area after either (a) such individual obtains knowledge of such plan or project, or (b) first public notice of such plan, project or area pursuant to section 99.830, whichever first occurs;

     (13) Within a redevelopment area, acquire by gift, grant, devise, lease, eminent domain, or otherwise, any interest in real property which is contaminated with one or more hazardous substances or is otherwise polluted; and to remediate environmental problems, own, manage, maintain, convey, lease, clear or take any other action with regard to such contaminated or polluted real property.

     2. Prior to adoption of an ordinance approving the designation of a redevelopment area or approving a redevelopment plan or redevelopment project, the municipality shall create a commission of nine persons to be appointed as follows:

     (1) Two members shall be appointed by the school boards whose districts are included within the redevelopment plan or redevelopment area. Such members shall be appointed in any manner agreed upon by the affected districts;

     (2) One member shall be appointed, in any manner agreed upon by the affected districts, to represent all other districts levying ad valorem taxes within the area selected for a redevelopment project or the redevelopment area, excluding representatives of the governing body of the municipality; and

     (3) Six members shall be appointed by the chief elected officer of the municipality, with the consent of the majority of the governing body of the municipality. The members who are appointed by the school boards and other taxing districts shall serve on the commission for a term to coincide with the length of time a redevelopment project, redevelopment plan or designation of a redevelopment area, is considered for approval by the commission. Such term shall terminate upon final approval of the project, plan or designation of the area by the governing body of the municipality. Thereafter the commission shall consist of the six members appointed by the municipality, except that members representing school boards and other taxing districts shall be appointed as provided in this section prior to any amendments to any redevelopment plans, redevelopment projects or designation of a redevelopment area. If any school district or other taxing jurisdiction fails to appoint members of the commission within thirty days of receipt of written notice of a proposed redevelopment plan, redevelopment project or designation of a redevelopment area, the remaining members may proceed to exercise the power of the commission. Of the members first appointed by the municipality, two shall be designated to serve for terms of two years, two shall be designated to serve for a term of three years and two shall be designated to serve for a term of four years from the date of such initial appointments. Thereafter, the members appointed by the municipality shall serve for a term of four years, except that all vacancies shall be filled for unexpired terms in the same manner as were the original appointments.

     3. The commission, subject to approval of the governing body of the municipality, may exercise the powers enumerated in this act except final approval of plans, projects and designation of redevelopment areas. The commission shall hold public hearings and provide notice pursuant to sections 99.825 and 99.830. The commission shall vote on all proposed redevelopment plans, redevelopment projects and designations of redevelopment areas, and amendments thereto, within thirty days following completion of the hearing on any such plan, project or designation and shall make recommendations to the governing body within ninety days of the hearing referred to in section 99.825 concerning the adoption of, or amendment to redevelopment plans and redevelopment projects and the designation of redevelopment areas. The requirements of subsections 2 and 3 of this section shall not apply to redevelopment projects upon which the required hearings have been duly held prior to August 31, 1991.

     4. No member of a commission or the governing body of any municipality, nor any employee of any municipality or commission, shall incur personal liability for any action taken by such member or employee in exercising or causing the commission or the governing body of any municipality to exercise any power enumerated in sections 99.800 to 99.865.