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The Week of Jan. 27, 2025

As we move through this week of the Legislature, senators are diligently moving through the ordinary motions of the day, ensuring that the groundwork is laid for the important work ahead. At this stage, the focus has primarily been on committee activities, and there has been minimal floor discussion as few bills have yet been voted out of committee.
 
As committees finalize their votes, we are gearing up for a more robust dialogue on the Senate floor. Our commitment to thoughtful, thorough legislative discourse remains strong, and we look forward to engaging discussions that will shape our priorities for the remainder of the session. Stay tuned for updates as we prepare to dive into the important issues that lie ahead.

Bills and Committees

Senator May’s Legislation:

This week, I presented two of my bills to Senate Progress and Development Committee. Senate Bill 110 would designate the week of January 5 each year as “Kappa Alpha Psi Week” in Missouri. Senate Bill 111 would designate September every year as "Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month" in Missouri.

Judiciary Committee:

The committee heard two bills this week. Senate Bill 19 would require that all records and files maintained by any court pertaining to clean slate eligible offenses, which are offenses currently eligible for expungement by law, will become closed records without the filing of a petition. Additionally, the Office of State Courts Administrator would be required to identify and transfer on a monthly basis all clean slate eligible offenses records to the Central Repository and every prosecuting agency in the state within 30 days of the offenses becoming eligible for expungement.

Senate Bill 167 modifies the offense of hazing by stating that a person is guilty of the offense of hazing if a person solicits another person to participate in a willful act that endangers another person. However, this bill states that a person will not be guilty of the offense of hazing if he or she establishes:

Additionally, this act provides that a person will be immune from prosecution if the person can establish he or she rendered aid to the hazing victim before assistance arrived.

The committee voted to pass Senate Bill 36, which establishes provisions relating to compensation for individuals who were wrongfully convicted in the state. Under current law, only wrongfully convicted individuals who were proven innocent as a result of DNA testing could receive compensation. The committee also passed Senate Bill 60 , which would modify the offense of endangering a child in the first degree to include possession or production of fentanyl or carfentanil, and adds this offense to the definition of "dangerous felony."

Commerce Committee:

This week, the committee heard Senate Bill 6, which would require an electrical corporation, prior to the closure of an existing electric generating power plant, certify to the Public Service Commission that it has secured and placed on the electric grid an equal or greater amount of replacement reliable electric generation within 120 days of the plant closing. The committee voted to pass this bill, as well as Senate Bill 4 and Senate Bill 5. 

Rules, Joint Rules, Resolutions and Ethics Committee:

The committee heard Senate Concurrent Resolution 3, which would add health and life sciences and immersive learning experiences to the mission of Missouri Southern State University, as well as Senate Concurrent Resolution 5 and Senate Concurrent Resolution 7, which would both urge the United States Congress to reinstate mandatory country of origin labeling for meat.

Appropriations Committee:

The committee heard an overview of the governor’s Fiscal Year 2026 state operating budget recommendations. In the coming weeks, we will hear from each department and agency as they share their funding requests. 

Other News

Governor’s budget shifts money from public to private schools

Missouri’s new governor proposed a state budget on Jan. 28 that would leave local public school districts $300 million short of the amount determined by the foundation formula, while providing $50 million in direct taxpayer funding for private school tuition vouchers, a plan that could be a violation of a state constitutional prohibition against granting public money to private entities.

Basic state funding for local K-12 schools is distributed in accordance with a complex formula established in state law. The central feature of the formula is the “state adequacy target,” which is the amount of per-pupil funding deemed necessary under the law for students to achieve performance goals.

In his budget plan, the governor opted not to fund the adequacy target for the upcoming fiscal year. However, he is proposing a $200 million increase in formula funding to account for costs enacted last year to bolster funding for public schools as part of a legislative deal to secure passage of an expansion of Missouri’s private school voucher program. By not funding the adequacy target, the state will still fall $300 million short of hitting the minimum amount of K-12 funding called for under state law.

Because the Missouri Constitution prohibits lawmakers from directly granting public money to private organizations or individuals, the state’s school voucher program currently is exclusively funded by private donations. In exchange for those contributions, however, donors receive tax credits that reduce their state tax liability – and thus the amount of money coming into the state treasury.

The governor’s proposal to appropriate $50 million in taxpayer money for the program marks the first time the state has attempted to directly fund tuition for private K-12 schools. If lawmakers approve the funding during the budget process, it will almost certainly face a legal challenge for violating constitutional restrictions.

Overall, the governor proposed a $52.77 billion state operating budget for the 2026 fiscal year, which begins July 1. He announced his budget, along with his policy priorities for this year, during his first State of the State address before a joint session of the Missouri General Assembly.

While the governor’s plan calls for close to $2 billion more in spending than what lawmakers originally authorized last year for the FY 2025 operating budget, that spending plan underfunded Medicaid and many other programs well below anticipated costs, with many budget observers – including then-Gov. Mike Parson – predicting lawmakers would need to pass a supplemental appropriations bill for FY 2025 that could be the largest in state history.

As anticipated, the governor asked lawmakers to pass a $2.12 billion supplemental spending bill to make up for underfunded costs in the original FY 2025 operating budget. When factoring in the massive supplemental bill, his FY 2026 budget proposal would keep spending roughly flat over FY 2025 levels. The governor also requested another $954.5 million for one-time capital improvement projects in FY 2026. 

The day after the governor presented his plan, the House of Representatives began hearings to review his spending requests. Lawmakers face a May 9 constitutional deadline for granting final passage to the various appropriations bills that will make up the FY 2026 state budget.

Lawmakers again working to ban child marriage in Missouri

A Senate committee on Jan. 29 heard legislation to completely ban child marriage in Missouri. A similar bill passed the Senate 31-1 last year but died for lack of action in the House of Representatives after leaders didn’t bring it up for a final vote during the closing hours of the 2024 legislative session.

Senate Bill 66 would set the minimum age for obtaining a marriage license at 18, up from the current minimum of 16 (which requires parental approval). Until 2018, Missouri law allowed children as young as 15 to marry if they had parental permission, with even younger kids able to marry with judicial approval.

Before lawmakers raised the marriage age in 2018, Missouri’s permissive law gave the state an unwelcome reputation as a haven for child marriage. Supporters of SB 66 say it would close the remaining loophole in the law to finally end child marriage in the state. The Senate Families, Seniors and Health Committee took no immediate action on the bill, which is again expected to enjoy widespread bipartisan support. 

State senator wants to establish bounty hunter program for undocumented immigrants

Missouri would award $1,000 rewards for tips leading to the arrest of undocumented immigrants under legislation the Senate Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety Committee considered during a Jan. 27 hearing, in which opponents of the legislation far outnumbered supporters.

Senate Bill 72 would establish one of the more extreme of several anti-immigrant proposals filed in the Legislature this year. While supporters say the bill would reduce the presence of undocumented immigrants in the state, opponents countered that the proposed reward system is designed to harrass immigrant communities with little regard for the legal status of individuals. The bill contains no penalties for filing a false report wrongly accusing a legal resident or U.S. citizen of not having lawful immigration status.

The bill would also create the felony offense of “trespass by an illegal alien,” punishable by life in prison without possibility of parole – a punishment usually reserved for more serious crimes like murder. An undocumented immigrant would be deemed guilty of that crime merely for existing within the state. The committee took no immediate action on the bill.

House committee considers public school open enrollment

The House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee on Jan. 29 heard legislation that would authorize children to transfer to public school districts other than the one in which they reside, a proposal the governor endorsed a day earlier during his State of the State address. The committee took no immediate action on the bill.

Under House Bill 711, the open enrollment program would begin with the 2026-2027 school year. While districts would have limited ability to stop students from transferring, participation would be voluntary among receiving districts. However, skeptics are concerned that if open enrollment becomes law, the voluntary nature of the program would soon become a mandate as lawmakers would be under pressure to require districts to accept transfers.

Proponents of the bill say open enrollment would expand the public school options available to Missouri children and their families. Since the state tax dollars would follow a student from his or her home district to the receiving district, opponents say it would shift resources from less wealthy districts to the more affluent ones that students are likely to want to transfer to under the bill, putting further financial strain on struggling school systems.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Thank you for your interest in the legislative process. I look forward to hearing from you on the issues that are important to you this legislative session. If there is anything my office can do for you, please do not hesitate to contact my office at 573-751-3599.