Senator Karla May's May Report for the Week of Feb. 17, 2025

Friday, February 21, 2025

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The Week of Feb. 17, 2025

On the Floor

This week, the Senate gave first round approval to the following bills:

  • Senate Bill 3 would increase service fees charged by the Missouri Department of Revenue fee offices for certain transactions.
  • Senate Bill 10 would remove expirations dates for several tax credits and other provisions.
  • Senate Bill 98 would create the offense of financial institution accounts fraud.
  • Senate Bill 40, which would create the Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls Task Force.
  • Senate Bill 4, which would enact several provisions relating to utilities, including:
  1. Allow real property that is stationary and used for transportation or storage of liquid and gaseous products, including water, sewage and certain natural gas, to be categorized as depreciable tangible personal property.
  2. Allow solar panels, racking systems, inverters and related solar equipment, components, materials and supplies installed commercially that were constructed and producing solar energy prior to August 9, 2022, to be considered “tangible personal property” for the purpose of property taxation.
  3. Allow certain utilities, if requested, to use a future test year to establish new base rates.
  4. Repeal certain provisions relating to maximum penalties for violations of federally mandated natural gas safety standards and provides that the maximum penalties cannot exceed an amount as determined by the Secretary of Transportation of the United States.
  5. Allow a new or existing gas corporation account to qualify for a discount if it meets certain criteria.

 

Additionally, the Senate passed the following legislation and sent them to the Missouri House of Representatives for consideration:

  • Senate Bill 49 would authorize a school district or charter school to employ a chaplain or accept a chaplain as a volunteer.
  • Senate Bill 105 would require all plant nurseries to comply with certain affidavit requirements relating to plant pest infestation, including that the nursery dealer cannot knowingly and intentionally sell or distribute any viable plant portions or seeds of certain invasive plants.
  • Senate Bill 97 would modify several provisions relating to banks and trust companies. 
  • Senate Bill 60 would add the unlawful manufacture or possession of fentanyl or carfentanil to the offense of endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree. This offense currently includes the unlawful manufacture or possession of amphetamine or methamphetamine. 
  • Senate Bill 81 would modify provisions relating to fireworks protections.
  • Senate Bill 145 states that no city can require a business license for any enterprise owned by a person aged 18 years or younger. 
  • Senate Bill 167 states that a person is guilty of the offense of hazing if a person knowingly, actively, and not under duress participates in, solicits another person to participate in, or causes or plans a willful act that endangers a student or members of sanctioned organizations of a public or private college or university. However, this bill states that a person will not be guilty of the offense of hazing if he or she establishes that he or she:
  1. Was present at the event where hazing occurred and a person was in need of immediate medical assistance;
  2. Was the first person to call 911 or campus security to report the need for medical attention;
  3. Provided the relevant information to the 911 operator or campus security; and
  4. Remained at the scene until medical assistance arrived and cooperated with such assistance.

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.

 

Bills and Committees

Senator May’s legislation:

This week, two of my bills were reported from the 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. The next stop is the perfection calendar, where they can be brought up for discussion on the Senate floor

 

Judiciary Committee:

The committee heard the following bills this week:

  • Senate Bill 196 would allow the death penalty to be pursued for the offenses of statutory rape in the first degree and sexual trafficking of a child in the first degree.
  • Senate Bill 288 would allow a third associate circuit judge to be appointed by the governor for St. Francois County in the 24th Judicial District. 
  • Senate Bill 295 creates the offense of engaging in an adult cabaret performance if such performance is on public property or in a location where the performance could be viewed by a minor.
  • Senate Bill 318 creates the offense of organized retail theft if a person, alone or with any other person, commits a series of retail thefts, whether in person or online with the intent to return the merchandise for value or resell for value.

 

Commerce Committee:

The committee heard two bills this week. Senate Bill 185 would authorize a state and local sales tax exemption for machinery and equipment used to provide broadband communications service by a broadband communications service provider. Senate Bill 199 states that the authority of any electrical corporation to condemn property does not extend to the construction of any structure or facility that uses wind or solar energy to generate or manufacture electricity.

 

Rules, Joint Rules, Resolutions and Ethics Committee:

The committee heard Senate Concurrent Resolution 8, which would establish the Joint Committee on Drainage and Levee Districts. This committee would evaluate the current law on the creation, maintenance and methods of assessment for levee and drainage districts, as well as make recommendations to the General Assembly on changes that can be made to improve the transparency and operation of levee and drainage districts.

 

Appropriations Committee:

The following departments and offices shared their funding requests for the Fiscal Year 2026 state operating budget in this week’s hearing:

  • Governor
  • Department of Mental Health
  • Governor's FY 2025 Supplemental Budget

 

Other News

House votes to ban DEI, governor issues order doing same 

The Missouri House of Representatives voted 108-50 along straight party lines on Feb. 20 to ban state agencies from promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. The vote came one day after the governor signed an executive order prohibiting state agencies from spending funds on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

 

Diversity, equity and inclusion efforts encourage employers to expand their hiring pools to include qualified applicants from historically marginalized groups. Opponents nationwide claim they grant preferential treatment to unqualified minority applicants.

 

Although the governor’s executive order generally prohibits diversity, equity and inclusion, it contains a broad exception for policies “authorized by state and federal law.” As a result, it isn’t immediately clear what existing practices are affected since many are authorized by law.

 

Like the executive order, House Bill 742 on one hand says state agencies can’t spend on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, but on the other says those agencies must continue to abide by federal and state employment and antidiscrimination laws. The bill now advances to the Senate for further debate.

 

 

Lawmakers endorse state takeover of St. Louis police 

After about a dozen years under local control, the state would again assume authority over the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department – but still require city taxpayers to pay the bills despite not having a say over how the department operates – under legislation the Missouri House of Representatives advanced to the Senate on Feb. 20 by a vote of 100-47, with six lawmakers voting “present.” 

 

The state’s first takeover of the St. Louis police occurred at the outset of the Civil War as Missouri’s secessionist governor sought to limit the power of pro-Union city officials and suppress the city’s Black population. Although the Civil War ended, state control remained until 63.9% of Missouri voters approved a statewide ballot measure in November 2012 that put local officials in charge of the department.

 

Supporters of state control say it would stem violent crime. Opponents of the bill noted violent crime has increased throughout Missouri after the majority repeatedly weakened the state’s gun laws over the last decade-plus. 

 

House Bill 495 also contains numerous other provisions relating to public safety, include several criminalizing protests and civil disobedience in possible violation of the First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly.

 

One particularly broad provision would make it a felony crime of “rioting” for a group of seven or more people to assemble and violate “any of the criminal laws of this state or the United States.” One state representative noted during debate that seven or more teenagers who gathered in a field to drink beer would be guilty of felony rioting under that wording.

 

Circuit judge authorizes resumption of abortions in state

A Jackson County Circuit Court judge on Feb. 14 cleared abortions to resume in Missouri, ruling that an onerous licensing requirement targeting abortion providers runs afoul of the reproductive rights provisions voters added to the state constitution in November.

 

After the new constitutional protections, ratified as Amendment 3, took effect Dec. 5, reproductive rights supporters immediately filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of myriad abortion restrictions enacted into state law over the decades, including a near total ban on abortions that had been in effect since June 2022.

 

The circuit judge issued an injunction blocking enforcement of the statutory ban and numerous other restrictions on Dec. 20, finding them in violation of Amendment 3. However, she initially left in place one law that requires abortion facilities – but not other outpatient providers – to be licensed as ambulatory surgical centers. That costly requirement led to the closure of all but one Missouri abortion clinic years before the state enacted its total ban.

 

As result, abortions remained on hold in Missouri. In a follow up order issued Feb. 14, the judge reconsidered her previous decision and blocked enforcement of the licensing requirement, finding it “facially discriminatory because it does not treat services provided in abortion facilities the same as other types of similarly situated health care, including miscarriage care.”

 

The Missouri attorney general is expected to appeal the ruling to the Missouri Supreme Court. The case is Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains v. State of Missouri.

 

House votes to shield Bayer from Roundup lawsuits

The House of Representatives voted 85-72 on Feb. 21 in favor of legislation designed to shield Bayer, a German corporation whose U.S. headquarters is located in Creve Coeur, from lawsuits over the company’s Roundup weedkiller.

 

More than 25,000 lawsuits have been filed in the Cole County Circuit Court alleging the product’s main chemical – glyphosate – causes cancer. In recent years, Bayer has paid at least $10 billion in jury awards and settlements nationwide in Roundup cases, according to the Missouri Independent.

 

Supporters of House Bill 544 said it would protect the use of any herbicide that is essential to agricultural production and has been widely applied for decades. Opponents said it would block Missourians harmed by the product from pursuing their claims in court.

 

On the same day, the House also passed separate legislation, House Bill 68, that would reduce the deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit from the current five years to just two years, while doubling the deadline for filing cases alleging childhood sexual abuse from 10 years to 20 years. The bill passed on a vote of 92-42, with 24 lawmakers voting “present.” Both HB 544 and HB 68 now advance to the Senate.

 

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.