This week, I had the pleasure of presenting Senate Bill 152 to the Senate Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy and the Environment Committee. This legislation would prevent local municipalities from proposing duplicative franchise fees on streaming services. These franchise fees were intended to pay municipalities for the cost of physical infrastructure, such as the infrastructure needed to provide cable television service. Under this bill, “video service” does not include any video programming accessed via a service that enables users to access content over the internet, including streaming content. This legislation will help protect Missourians from paying duplicative fees not approved by voters. 

Additionally, I am proud to say my Senate Bill 72 was passed 6-0 by the Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. This legislation would establish the “Judicial Privacy Act” to prohibit any government agency, person or business from disclosing the personal information of a judicial officer. This proposal is similar to and complementary of a federal law to protect federal judges, and we need to extend those same protections to our state judicial officers.

The Senate also gave first round approval to Senate Bills 4, 42 & 89 on Feb. 8. This legislation creates the “Parents’ Bill of Rights Act of 2023” and the Missouri Education Transparency and Accountability Portal to give residents access to each school district’s curriculum, textbooks, source material and syllabi. This legislation sends a strong message that our state respects parents and their right to know what their children are being taught. This bill further empowers parents to take action if they believe any school district or teacher has violated the provisions in the bill. I believe this is one of the strongest parents’ bill of rights proposals in the country, and I look forward to passing this important legislation and sending it to the Missouri House of Representatives for deliberation.

Please visit Sen. Trent’s official Missouri Senate website at senate.mo.gov/Trent for more legislative and constituent resources.

Senator Curtis Trent proudly serves the citizens of Barton, Dade, Greene and Webster counties in the Missouri Senate.