Our progress and plans

The Missouri Vacation Home Alliance (MOVHA) has spearheaded a bill to designate short-term rentals as a residential classification for property tax assessments.​

Tackling this specific issue is important to short-term rental property owners and the continued growth of tourism in Missouri.

Below is our timeline of progress and our activities as an alliance.

Current

💪 What’s next

We regroup, recharge, and go again next year!

Between now and end of 2026:

  • 🤝 Attend fundraisers and meet candidates for state and local office
    • every House seat and many Senate seats are up for election
    • meaning many new legislators to educate
  • 💬 Meet with your county commissioners and assessors
    • share your story
    • explain how devastating reclassification would be
    • report back to us on their commitment to keeping STRs classified as residential for property taxes

Board members meet for a leadership strategy session in Branson: Alex Zemianek, Susan Brown, Pamela Quinn, Tyann Marcink Hammond, and Lance Mayfield. Not shown: Valerie Budd, Dawn Corcillius, and Melissa Young.

  • 👉 Volunteer to help with fundraising, hosting a meet up, or serving on a committee

July

  • Build local chapters in Springfield and St. Louis
  • Continue to collaborate with Kansas City chapter

December

  • We pre-file our bill

2027

January

  • 2027 Legislative session begins

February or March (tbd)

  • ⚖️ MOVHA Lobby Day
  • 🍎 MOVHA Education Day

2026 Legislative session

MOVHA members and supporters speak with our legislators on our annual Lobby Day

“MOVHA made tremendous progress this session:

We were one vote away from passage on both of our bills, SB 1066 and HB 1768.

We added many supportive legislators this session, and we neutralized the Hotel industry.

We are in a prime position to pass our bill next session!”

– Chris Roepe, MOVHA Lobbyist

This year we came much closer to passing our bill to prevent property tax reclassification for short term rentals, but in the end it became caught up in broader property tax reform efforts.

🎉 Because of the momentum behind our bill, it became the first property tax bill to pass the full Senate with a 30-3 vote and later passed the House overwhelmingly, 110-35.

After those wins, the hotel lobby moved from opposing our bill to taking a neutral position.

No one opposed our language, but our bill ultimately became the vehicle for numerous other property tax proposals — some highly controversial.

In the final hours of the last day of session, it simply became too weighed down to pass.

✅ What went well

  • We found a strong Senate sponsor in Sen. Ben Brown, and both Sen. Ben Brown and Rep. Chris Brown were tremendous champions for us
  • We secured a Democratic co-sponsor, showing this is a bipartisan issue
  • We earned support from the Missouri Realtors and the Missouri Chamber — two of the strongest advocacy groups in Jefferson City
  • Airbnb supported our efforts with a paid lobbyist in Jefferson City
  • Many other organizations and individuals joined our coalition and supported the effort

🛑 What we stopped

Just as importantly, we stayed vigilant in playing defense:

  • We kept STRs out of mandatory human trafficking training legislation — not because we oppose awareness and training, but because of how the bill was written
  • We removed language specifically targeting STRs in legislation allowing additional tourism taxes in certain cities, preserving flexibility for future legal challenges related to sales tax if needed

2025

· MOVHA hired their first lobbyist, found a State Representative to sponsor the bill and officially filed HB1086 just before the filing deadline.

· Realized we had chosen the wrong lobbyist and then hired Chris Roepe with Bardgett and Associates as the new lobbyist.

· HB1086 began moving through the legislative process and by mid March had passed the House of Representatives with overwhelming bipartisan support.

· Tyann Marcink Hammond was chosen as MOVHA President, Susan Brown as Vice President, and Alex Zemianek as Secretary/Treasurer.

· We began paid membership and held our first annual Education Day for short term rental owners and managers. This first event had nearly 100 attendees and included speakers and sponsors from across the country.

· Additionally the Senate Committee Hearing for HB1086 happened to be scheduled the same day as the Education Day event, so all of the attendees filled the Senate Hearing room. MOVHA had 3 people give spoken testimony and then placed dozens of written testimony on file for the committee to consider.

· The Senate Committee unanimously approved HB1086 onward to the next step in the legislative process.

· MOVHA held its first Lobby Day at the State Capitol. Members and supporters visited their State Senators and Representatives to tell their story as a Missouri short term rental property owner and ask for their legilsator’s support on the issue.

· HB1086 was waiting to be brought to the Senate floor for discussion and a vote when the Legislative Session ended two days early, thus killing all bills that had not yet passed.

· That summer Tyann began organizing the Hosting Crash Course two day live event to educate new hosts who wanted to host during the World Cup games in 2026, with MOVHA and KCSTRA collaborating on the initiative.

· The Hosting Crash Course was held in Kansas City with great success, including extensive news coverage by Kansas City reporters. Major sponsors included Airbnb, Booking.com, Proper Insurance, PriceLabs, AirDNA, and others.

· Industry leaders were invited to speak and included Justin Ford on safety, Sean Kemper on cleaning, Tyann Marcink Hammond on guest communications, Linda Rollins on data, Kyle Driskell on pricing strategies, and James Varley from the UK on the World Cup fan expectations.

· Local regulators led educational sessions, while elected officials helped kick off the event, strengthening relationships with policymakers who help shape our industry.

· The live event was recorded to create a foundational hosting education video course that hosts could purchase and access at any time.

· A second two day event was then scheduled for February 2026 at the request of Airbnb as they were so impressed with what MOVHA accomplished with educating new hosts in the Kansas City area as well as collaborating with the City of KCMO, Wyandotte County and the KC26 World Cup Committee.

· KCMO Mayor Lucas Quinn gave a welcome at the second Hosting Crash Course event, and news channels reported live the entire first day from the event.

· Speakers included Andy McNulty former CFO at Gucci, Janice Hurley on channel management, Pamela Quinn on social media, Durk Johnson on cleaning, and Steve Clark on email marketing.

2024

· Tyann Marcink Hammond and Susan Brown connected and discussed statewide legislation to stop counties from arbitrarily changing the property tax classification of short term rentals to commercial from residential.

· Voters in Taney County voted in a new assessor.

· Updated the MOVHA Board of Directors to now include property owners from all parts of the State of Missouri. This first expanded board was Valerie Budd, Tyann Marcink Hammond, Lance Mayfield, Susan Brown, Alex Zemianek, Pamela Quinn, and Ryan Villines.

· With guidance from attorney Tim Davis, Susan and Tyann worked on writing State legislation to clarify that short term rentals are to be classified as residential for property tax purposes.

2023

· The Worleys stepped back and Valerie Budd volunteered to be president and take on the responsibilities.

· Valerie and Tyann Marcink assembled 100+ Branson area vacation home property owners to discuss the classification changes in Taney and Stone Counties.

· Some funds were raised, with involvement from local realtors. Tyann and Valerie walked property owners through the process to file an appeal with the county Board of Equalization, and several hundred appeals were heard by the local BOE officials.

2022 and before

· Missouri Vacation Home Alliance (MOVHA) was officially filed and granted 501(c)6 non profit status in 2018. The original board members included Jeramie Worley, Kelly Worley, Tyann Marcink, and Lance Mayfield.

· The alliance lay dormant for several years, with Jeramie Worley filing the annual paperwork.