Protecting Our Kids

This week, the Missouri Senate passed two monumental pieces of legislation crucial to protecting our kids. Senate Bill 49 will ensure Missouri’s children aren’t being subjected to irreversible gender-altering surgeries or harmful hormonal treatments. Senate Bill 39 will protect girls and women from unfair competition in school sports.

The effort to address the alarming rise of transgender influences on our kids has been front and center throughout the 2023 legislative session, but the Senate showdown arrived on Monday. A substitute bill containing both the medical and sports provisions was brought up for debate shortly after the Senate convened a 4 p.m. Proponents of the legislation spoke for about an hour before opponents seized the floor in an attempt to block a vote. The resulting filibuster continued until nearly 6 a.m. Tuesday. The overnight stalling tactic was carried out with precision. Opponents kept an arranged schedule, with teams of senators taking turns holding the floor during pre-determined time slots. Meanwhile, members of the majority remained in the chamber to keep an eye on the proceedings. In my case, I stood watch from 4 a.m. until the bill was temporarily laid over.

Throughout the night, conversations continued off the floor in an effort to reach a compromise. As the sun rose on the Capitol, the Senate took a brief recess to allow members to review the revised legislation. We came back about an hour later and passed two bills, one related to girls sports and the other addressing medical procedures for children.

Senate Bill 49, also known as the “Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act, prohibits gender-altering surgery on minors. It also bans the use of puberty blockers or hormones for the purpose of altering a child’s gender. Doctors who violate the law could lose their professional license. To break the filibuster, the majority party accepted a four-year sunset and a medically prudent provision allowing children who had already began gender transition before the bill takes effect to continue.

The transgender sports legislation, SB 39, is simple. Schools will only allow student athletes to participate in sports that correspond to the gender listed on the student’s birth certificate. Biological boys will play against biological boys, and biological girls will play against biological girls. If no girls’ sports program is available, females will be allowed to compete with males, but an athlete who was born a boy won’t be allowed to participate in girls’ sports, even if they now identify as a female. The bill applies to all schools in Missouri – public or private, at all grade levels – with the potential penalty being the loss of state funding.

These two bills are among the strongest transgender measures anywhere in the country. My hope is the House of Representatives will approve both measures as written and send them onto the governor for his signature. I believe passage of these protections will be a great win for Missouri’s kids. I’m really proud of the work the Senate did on these bills, and I’m thrilled I had a part in getting it done.

On an unrelated topic, I’d like to share some good news about a resident of the 10th Senatorial District. Meagan Perry Kaiser of Bowling Green was one of 10 Missourians recognized statewide in the Lieutenant Governor’s Women of Achievement Awards for 2023. A soil scientist and chief operations officer for Perry Agricultural Laboratory, Meagan has established herself as a leader in Missouri agriculture. A graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, Meagan and her company provide soil, plant and fertilizer analysis to clients in all 50 states and 75 foreign countries. Previously, she served as a legislative assistant to Sen. Kit Bond, specializing in ag issues. She has also served as the executive director of the Upper Mississippi, Illinois and Missouri Rivers Association and currently chairs the United Soybean Board, which administers the soybean check-off program. She is vice president of the Pike County Farm Bureau board. She and her husband, Marc, are the fifth generation to manage the Perry family farm. Congratulations to Meagan for her recognition as one of 10 women of achievement in Missouri.

Senator Travis Fitzwater serves residents of Callaway, Lincoln, Montgomery, Pike and a portion of St. Charles counties in the Missouri State Senate. For more information about Sen. Fitzwater, visit senate.mo.gov/Fitzwater.