With 80 hours left in the MO Legislative Session, Governor Mike Kehoe brought forward an “amendment” as a sneak move to pass upwards of what some are estimating to be a $1.5 BILLION tax credit for the KC Chiefs and KC Royals stadium upgrades. There was never a bill. This increase was never heard in any committee hearing so it could be vetted by the public and allow for the public to speak into. It was never debated as a stand alone bill on the floor of the Missouri House or Senate. This was an amendment stuck on a bill brought to the floor with only mere hours left in the legislative session.
There was NO FISCAL NOTE ATTACHED TO THIS AMENDMENT. Weird, isn’t it? Yet, in the Missouri House they voted it out the door in record time. It would appear there was an agenda at play. Right before the House was slated to call it an early day so they could get on Greyhound busses to St. Louis for a Jelly Roll and Post Malone Concert, this bill came to the floor. Without much fanfare or debate (and no fiscal note to review) the House hurriedly voted it out of the chamber and loaded the busses for their frat boy party night in St. Louis.
INTERESTING FACT: THE VOTERS OF JACKSON COUNTY VOTED THIS DOWN IN 2024:
REMEMBER THIS?
SUBSIDIES PASSED ON BACK OF TAX PAYERS WITH THE ST. LOUIS RAMS. BUILT THEM A NEW STADIUM AND THEY LEFT ANYWAY.
The Governor’s sneaky little trick of adding this HUGE PRICE TAG TO MISSOURI VOTERS as an amendment to a bill in the final hours of the session did not work. Even though the House voted it out without much thought (they had a bus to catch), the senate did not.
Thus, the Governor has committed to whip the votes until he thinks he can burden Missourians with the $1.5 Billion price tag over 30 years by calling the Legislature back in a special session to demand this be passed.
All of this just days after Missouri passed the largest budget in history at $53.3 billion loaded with special favors, pork, and so much corporate welfare. (More on that in coming days.)
JACKSON COUNTY, MISSOURI VOTERS SENT A STRONG MESSAGE THAT THEY DID NOT WANT THIS. THE ONLY WAY MISSOURI VOTERS CAN BE HEARD NOW IS FOR YOU TO CONTACT YOUR ELECTED SENATOR OR STATE REP. LET THEM KNOW IF YOU ARE FOR OR AGAINST THIS.
LICOLN HOUGH’S PET PROJECT BILL REFERENCED IN PODCAST:
NOTES FROM THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 12, 2025:
House General Session 5-12-25
Representative Bennie Cook opened in prayer
Representative Lane Roberts, retired police officer, spoke on police week and called for a moment of silence. While he was speaking and the Chamber was very quiet, you could hear yelling coming from the Rear House Lounge. Several male representatives, who most have been law enforcement officers, filed into the rear lounge and stayed 2-3 minutes and then came back out on the House Floor. At one point it could be heard “knock it off”. Representatives Roberts, holding his composure and staying focused on his remarks showed what It will be interesting to hear what was going on, showed that control under pressure composure that so many of our Law Enforcement Officers possess. Thank you Representative Roberts for your service in public safety and for speaking so eloquently of your fallen fellow officers, but also in showing amazing composure that is such an important trait to have to work under pressure.
There were a number of other introductions and points of personal priviledge made. Representative Josh Hurlbert announced that Missouri Congressman Sam Graves was in the side gallery.
Reports From Committee
Fiscal Review has reported SB61, SB145&59 and SS2 HB596 as due pass. The floor leader asked if there were messages from the Senate, and the clerk said “there are none.” The Senate Session started at 2pm and the House at 4pm. For at least an hour, and likely considerably longer, Senator Lincoln Hough was inquiring of several different senators and voicing his displeasure that the House failed to take up House Bill 19 last Friday, so the HB19 is dead. He was speaking to the different building projects across the state that will not happen. Or others that will not get major maintenance as HB19 is the building allocation bill.
House Bills with Senate Amendments were first up on the House floor.
HB419 carried by Don Mayhew. Representative Mayhew said this bill includes HB607 by Representative Lewis, HB616 by Stinnett that allows MSU to grant doctorates, a change from only MU being able to confirm doctorates in many different fields of study, Weber’s Veterans day for University systems in the Missouri to be a legal holiday, Haley’s 606 Seminary, SB243 Neurenburgs International Baccalaureate to allow high school students to take a test to qualify for college credits, HB496 Christ, SB279 Missouri Southerns Mission Statement, HB720 Diehl a renaming bill, HB62 optional mentoring for internship program. Democrats stood and spoke in favor of the bill.
The Substituted to HB419 was adopted with vote of 149-7 and the bill was Totally Agreed and Finally Passed (TAFP’d) with the same 149-7 vote.
SS SC HCS HB519, 290 & 778 Carried by Representatives Mattheisen was brought to the floor. Mattheisen spoke on the bill passing out of the House unanimously and the Senate Committee unanimously as well. There were 2 changes to the bill in the senate. The first is seeking reimbursement for clean up and changing testing to treatment, it will also allow general refund funding in addition to $$’s previously only coming from hazardous waste fund.
Representative Walsh-Moore spoke of Representative Clemens as well as the bill handler working on this literally their whole lives and long before coming to the House and this is now getting national attention in Congress in Washington DC. Representative Clemens also spoke as well as Raychel Proudie who spoke strongly in favor of the bill and thanked the representatives that have been involved.
Representatives Tricia Byrnes stated that she had meet Representative Clemens years ago at meetings on this issue and it doesn’t matter what side of the aisle you are on, this is a step forward on the issue.
Representatives Clemens spoke that there are 460 million tons of weapons waste in his own neighborhood and that every man on his block died of some kind of stomach or abdominal cancer as well as an area that everyone had the rarest of cancer, cancer of the appendix.
This bill was kept “clean” in the legislative process. There were no amendments added to the bill that needed to change the title of the bill. Watching the passage of this bill actually made the writer of these notes cry, as I have watched and listened to hearings on this issue last year and this year of the people who have suffered horrible medical issues from being exposed to this nuclear military waste. This was a bi-partisan bill and my personal opinion this issue that SHOULD have been addressed decades ago.
The Senate Substitute was adopted 157-0
The Bill was Totally Agreed and Finally Passed 158-0
The Speaker took his time to call on the floor leader to go to the next bill, allowing pictures to be taken of the representatives that have worked hard on this legislation to get the federal government to take responsibility for the toxic waste and begin the clean up process.
Senate Substitute 2 to HB596 carried by Representative Chris Brown from the consent calendar was introduced to the floor. This bill struck 2 words from statute and also a technical fix for professional registration by adding real estate broker to the bill
The Substitute was adopted 153-3
TAFP’d 153-2. (TRULY AGREED TO AND FINALLY PASSED).
SS SCS HCS HB145&59 addresses sunshine law protecting students 17 and under and also added a couple of pieces on not allowing the location of protected species to be sunshined as well as sewer information for taxing districts. It also says that materials that were requested in a Sunshine request can be disposed of after 90 days if the charges are less than $100 for the materials and after 150 days if the charges are over $100.
The Senate Sub was adopted 120-37
Bills in Conference
Conference Committee Reports to House Committee Substitute to Senate Substitute to Senate Bill 160 (CCR HCS SS SB160) Representative Chappel said they have dealt with this for years and years and years and that they have done as much as they could with the tumultuous times. Representative Proudie spoke on the bill, saying, This bill contains the crown act, that supposedly prevents discrimination based on a hair style or type of hair and doctorate degrees. The anti-Semitic was removed from the bill as well as the bathroom language. There was continued discussion that this bills does allow for lawful discrimination by allowing certain groups created on campus to be supported by university fees. Senator Hudson was on the Dias for the bill. Representative Lakeisha Bosley spoke in favor of the bill.
The bill was TAFP’d 117-11 with 27 voting present.
Senate Bills for 3rd read
SB167 carried by Sharry Gallick
HA1 is HB592 and this changes the ages of juveniles as well as changes to motion to modify.
HA2 Gallick AED emergency response plans and says that anyone can use the kits not just emergency personnel and CPR can be performed without getting sued, acting as a Good Samaritan.
HA3 Hausman private schools can adopt a bathroom policy that states the bathrooms MAY be limited to a specific gender at a private school. Here is Representative Wendy Hausman moving for the adoption of her amendment. This amendment only allows private schools to chose a bathroom policy in their private school if they chose. There is no requirement on this bill and it only applies to private schools.
Ingle asked if the Senate Sponsor approved this amendment, and continued with, oh yeah, another bill that was not controversial that now is.
Representative Proudie added that this was taken off SB160 in conference committee because of the huge possibility that it would kill the bill.
Representative Thomas Wick, democrat who identifies are non-binary and uses the pronoun they in all of his biography info provided on his House page, said that he was in the bathroom in the House lounge when this bathroom amendment was bought up. He asked if Representative Hausman had any examples in Missouri to prove the need for this bill, and she stated that she did not have specific examples, but this is an attempt to protect her children and grandchildren.
https://sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00325/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20200831/-1/12885?mediaStartTime=20250512160000&mediaEndTime=20250512172940&viewMode=3&globalStreamId=4 In this same clip, towards the end, Rep Wick spoke on the bill saying that this amendment is to harm trans kids.
Representative Christensen next inquired of Representative Hausman, giving examples of a grown man in North Kansas City that had exposed himself to a Mom and young child, as well as Ellisville, MO last year a grown man entered the women’s locker room. Here are Representative Mazzie Christensen’s remarks:
Representatives Sparks, who held a press conference last year at the gym in Ellisville was next up speaking about the occurrence at the Lifetime Fitness in Ellisville and that real men protect women.
Representative Sparks’ legislation this year has not had much traction, as well as Representative Christensen’s. Sparks ran for Speaker of the House and Christensen supported Sparks in that run. Speaker of the House Patterson did win but did vote against not allowing kids under the age of 18 to start the process of becoming a transgender and against protecting women’s sports last year.
The debate on this amendment continued for another 30 minutes, with remarks from both sides of the aisle.
Representative Gragg said this is confusing, when our side of the aisle tries to protect kids, continuing, there is nothing more confusing than kids seeing something in a bathroom that they should not be seeing
Representative Casteel inquired of Hausman for clarity, saying this pertains to bathrooms that have multiple occupancy in the private school setting only, if they choose, and Hausman confirmed that is true.
Democrat representative Gregg Bush of Boone County had a very interesting inquiry and the rest of the inquiry begins at 5:39:38 in the House archives for 5-12-25 if you would like to hear him pointing out the nude artwork in the top of the House chamber. It was definitely an interesting exchange, but to keep the substack and all clips appropriate for ALL ages and especially for those parents who are trying to protect their children from sexually explicit content before it is age appropriate. You can find each legislative session on the House website at House.mo.gov, click the “media” link. On your cell phone there is a tiny drop down button on the top menu bar that will bring up the archives, on larger devices you are looking for the archive tab in the Media section of the House website.
But the portion that stuck out was his reference to the Senate Bill that was recently passed that allows Mo Scholars $$ to go to private schools, thus blurring the lines between private and public. When will the government begin to put mandates on private schools because there is public $$’s being received. This argument is what Home Schoolers have been very concerned with!
Representative Steinmeyer stated that we don’t need a traumatic event to happen to do this.
Representative Rene Reuter wanted to clarify confusion as she stated she had a grown man expose himself to her at 5 and 50 years later she still remembers the event.
Representative Laubinger stated that 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 women have experienced a sexually traumatic event in their lives.
LaKeySha Bosley spoke against this amendment, but still for the bill as it contains the Crown Act. She continued by stating she can’t believe we are talking about bathrooms when we let capital improvements in our state crumble.
At 6pm everyone who had wished to speak on the amendment had been given a chance and Representative Hausman renewed her motion on House amendment 3. A written roll call had been requested and the amendment passed with a vote of 103-47 with 1 present.
SB167 was then adopted as amended with a voice vote and by a vote of 94-54-3, it was 3rd Read and passed.
Next up were Senate Bills for 3rd Read ,Informal
SS SCS SB105 now carried by Bishop Davidson in the House, previously carried by now former Representatives Ben Baker. The original bill was addressing invasive species plants in the state of Missouri carried by Senator Bernskoetter.
Immediately HA1 was introduced, a titling amendment.
Here is the exchange between Representatives Cupps and Representative Bishop Davidson on Cupps challenge to the titling amendment of SB105. I am still amazed that the representatives think they can legally change the bill title of a Senate Bill. This is a very important exchange, as i believe is the biggest flaw we have that has continued this session and has only been used and abused more this session. Please listen to Representative Cupps push back. There IS hope. Unfortunately it’s too little too late this session.
Representative Cupps stated that he hates the underlying bill, invasive species, but without this titling amendment it would allow the foreign ownership of property in Missouri to be addressed, that he is very passionate about needing to happen. He stated that he believes if the bill title gets changed this drastically the legislation could be challenged in court and fail, therefore he cannot support the titling amendment. He would be put in an impossible predicament of voting for the invasive species portion of the bill to vote in favor of the foreign ownership piece that he wants.
There was continued discussion that with the possible bill title change the bill could then include HB1042 and SB682 that only had 1 no vote and a minor tweak from the beginning for the process. Davidson never did answer what that bill was about. But it is about tax credits for certain farmers carried by representative Diehl. It could also include HB897 by former Rep Ben Baker on the foreign ownership of land. Davidson also said that Ben Baker was carrying this and he was just asked to carry the bill on behalf of Baker up on his departure.
2025 Legislative Session - Day Sixty Nine - Monday, May 12
The underlying bill is about invasive species. Representative Davidson tried to argue that nursery plants that are invasive can be considered property, like a cel phone. While it would be amazing to make it illegal for foreign entities to own property in Missouri, especially foreign adversaries, doing it this way is NOT the way to do it and make it stick. This bill would have been the perfect bill for someone to file suit over and get the entire thing tossed. There was also discussion that the fence provisions in the bill would have to be removed.
Here is some addition inquiries from different representatives who had questions on what the titling amendment would allow and what provisions in the bill would need to be stripped off and what remained. This clip shows how the representatives will defend titling amendments when they have something in the bill that they don’t want stripped out. It appears they do have some concerns if the bill title is changed too much. The opinion of the House note taker will be that any bill title change is too much, according to the Missouri constitution.
This clip also gives some insight into the semantics and mental gymnastics that happens to create the omnibus bills that are created in both the House and the Senate.
Democrat Representative Walsh Moore agreed that the changing of the title changes the intent of the bill.
Democrat LaKeySha Bosley also spoke against the titling change as she believes this would change the bill from agriculture to something not related at all, leaving it vulnerable to be challenged in the courts and easily struck down.
2025 Legislative Session - Day Sixty Nine - Monday, May 12
Representatives Lewis said this may have unintended consequences and that this type of legislation is something that likely needs much more debate on the House floor and at a time that the currently administration is doing things about trade matters doesn’t feel this is the right time.
Davidson once again spoke saying that he has the understanding that the Senate deal had been worked out on this amendment allowing for foreign ownership of land and the bill would not need to go to conference.
The titling amendment failed with a vote of 22-130 with 3 voting present.
Floor Leader Alex Riley laid the bill over, putting the bill back on the Informal Calendar.
The next order of business was announcements:
Representative Cook, the Committee Chair for Fiscal Review stated that the committee should meet in House Hearing Room 4 upon adjournment.
Riley stated that the Representatives need to be prepared to debate SB61, SB68, and SB80 upon their return.
NOTES FROM THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TUESDAY, MAY 13, 2025:
From The House Legislative Session was scheduled to start at 10am, but finally started at 11:11am
Representative Seitz opened with Prayer
Representative Barry Hovis spoke on Police week
Representative Marlene Terry spoke on her removal from committees, saying you don’t have to be on a committee to be heard and finished with never let anyone take your voice and she proudly represents District 66. She referred to children multiple times and said “It’s not over”. . She had spoken passionately about parental choice. Here are Representative Terry’s passionate remarks on the House Floor. Representative Terry is a Democrat, but her passion for her beliefs and her constituent's is applauded and her bravery for not voting the way her caucus told her to vote, but what she believes will be the best for her constituents NEEDS to be more common!
2025 Legislative Session - Day Seventy - Tuesday, May 13
Reports from Committee SB80 was passed through Fiscal Review
Next up, Bills in Conference SB68, carried in the house by Representative Bill Allen. Representative Allen said that this passed in the House just last week overwhelmingly, but he wanted to remind what the bill included. Limited cel phone use in public schools, school safety reports to DESE when a school receives a threat of violence, so they can track the threat and the possible issue. Education committee chair, Ed Lewis spoke on the bill, saying this bill includes provisions form HB416, HB232, HB706. There was additional discussion that the bill includes teachers working after retirement are allowed to teach 5 years after official retirement and that sunset has been extended as it is set to expire this year. Students would also be allowed to attend districts adjacent to their home district if their parents are on staff at the neighboring school, not just a teacher as well as Gallick’s bill on spoke of the AED (safety) provision as well as HB941. Here is just part of Education committee chair speaking on the different components of the bill and the bi-partisan support on the bill and attempting to say this is a single subject bill.
Representative Gragg inquired of the bill carrier has his time had expired, so the bill carrier could continue his remarks speaking in favor of this monster of a bill. Remember, this is a Senate bill that the House loaded up with amendments just a few days ago.
Representatives Shields, Willard Haley, Cecile Williams, as well as multiple democrats thanked Representative Lewis for his work on this bill.
Representative Brad Banderman spoke on the bipartisan bill as well as the fix for HB727 of last year as well as the school calendar, snow days, AMI days, as well as natural disaster exceptions.
He finished by thanking the bill drafter that was able to figure out language for this bill to address this school year without needing an emergency clause.
The conference Committee was adopted with a vote of 135-17 with 1 voting present
3rd Read and passed with a vote of 132-20.
Representative Phil Oehlerking carried SB61, saying it was very similar to a House Bill that was heard recently about professional licensure. House Amendment 1 was introduced to the bill with little to no discussion, when Representative Dane Diehl added House Amendment 1 to House Amendment 1 that this leaves HB200, soil percolation after negotiating with both chambers.
Representative Joe Doll inquired about the contents of the amendment as well as the content of the underlying bill. Thank goodness for the democrats who rise on virtually every bill to ask for clarification of what is in the bill, as many of these bills are huge with multiple bills that have been added to them in previous steps in the legislative process. Take a listen to this portion of the debate on SB61 and the inquiry of Representative Joe Doll to Representative Phil Oehlerking. See if you can keep up with and understand the conversation between these 2 reps about this legislation and if you believe it’s a single subject bill.
2025 Legislative Session - Day Seventy - Tuesday, May 13
Amendment 2 was offered by Representative Brenda Shields. She introduced the amendment by saying this appears to be the last ship sailing for professional registration and that they have heard the bill multiple times on the House Floor. Representative Ohlerking spoke in favor of the amendment and you can hear the acting Speaker of the House call for a voice vote on the bill. Unfortunately they actual voice vote cannot be heard unless you are in the room as they hit the mute button during the vote itself, so its difficult to know if it really passes, but with just a spoken vote they attached an entire bill to this bill as amendment.
Representative Melissa Schmidt offered House Amendment 3 to expand childcare licensure. This bill has also been attached multiple times to multiple bills in hopes to “get it across the finish line” as so many reps say.
The committee sub was adopted with a voice vote and Senate bill 61 was passed, as amended with a vote of 135-13.
This bill did get laid over on the Senate floor the following day. That means that either someone saw an issue with the bill and the bill sponsored pulled if off the floor, putting it onto the informal calendar so it could get brought back up at any time, or someone in the Senate filibustered or threatened to filibuster the bill. The bill did not get taken back up before the Senate Adjourned, therefore the bill died. That means much of this legislation will get filed again next year, and the process starts all over again for this legislation, although they can say that it has been vetted, it passed in committee this year and passed on the House floor to try to create the narrative that the legislation is good. This bill did include language to create compacts with other states on some professionals that have to be licensed to work/practice in Missouri. If you have been listening to Shield Maidens, you know that interstate compacts are not good to protect Missouri sovereignty.
Next up was SB80, filed by Kurtis Gregory in the Senate. This bill dealt with amateur athletes being able to receive payment for sponsorships etc even during part of their senior year once they have signed a letter of intent with a university to play sports. The legislation passed that these athletes can do this, but doesn’t allow it during high school. This would allow them to start receive payment while still enrolled in public high school. Representative Seitz spoke in favor of the bill and House Amendment 1 saying that this should bring $1 billion profit to the state. Currently the law gets in the way of hosting NCAA events, as well as wrestling and archery because our tax code doesn’t allow certain payments.
Representative Mayhew spoke, saying he has concerns that the title of the bill does not fit the content of the bill. There was discussion on what the Board in the House says the title of the bill is and if that would allow the amendment. Representative Cook also chimed into this discussion. It was finally understood that the Senate had changed the title of the bill, but until the House of Representatives voted on accepting the Senate Substitute AFTER the debate on the bill, allowing the amendments that the amendments don’t appear to fit. Again, the question is, will the amendments fit if the bill title is changed and is it legal to change the bill titles.
House Amendment 2 was brought to the floor by the Representative of the District that the Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals are located, Representatives Chris Brown. This amendment would create the funding mechanism to keep the Royals and the Chiefs in the State of Missouri.
Representative Brown explained that the existing sales tax revenue that is collected to be used by the owner of the team. This program states that only historical levels of sales tax would be allowed to be kept by the owners of the teams, but any increases in sales taxes going forward would be paid to the state of Missouri. There is also a “clawback” provision in the bill that states if the team decides in the future to leave the state that any sales tax they were allowed to keep must be paid to the state of Missouri. So we wouldn’t have happen again to the state like we did in St Louis with the Ram’s leaving Missouri and Missourians are still paying for a stadium that sits mostly empty. The sales pitch was made to the body that if we don’t do this, the teams are likely to move to Kansas, as the state of Kansas has offered to pay 70% for the construction of new stadiums. The parameters of the deal that was negotiated by Governor Mike Kehoe would allow up to 50% of the cost of the stadiums.
Representative Walsh Moore spoke, saying this has not been vetted in committee and cited the Ram’s fiasco and Ballpark Village and is to say they won’t cut and run. She said this is a monster out bill and we have only had a few minutes to look it over. We are looking at funding stadiums and not funding roads and sidewalks for constituents. With the events of the last week (referring to HB19 a capital funding bill that the House just didn’t bring to the floor and pass that did include building hospitals and sheltered workshops as well as a number of projects) she spoke about trying to separate those out, but we may lose the Chiefs and Royals, but what are we doing for regular Missourians with this.
The amendment maker had stated in his sales pitch of this idea that if we lose the Chiefs and the Royals we will lose this sales tax revenue anyway, so we really haven’t lost anything.
Representative Tricia Byrnes made the recommendation that we move the Chiefs to St Charles County and she understands this is economic development.
Representative Kari Ingle of Jackson County, Lee’s Summit with what Republican leadership did last week, we will not get more funding by losing the Chiefs and Royals.
Representative Weber spoke in favor of the amendment having the clawback provision in it and wants to see job growth, but even though she is in support of the amendment, she is extremely frustrated with the last 2 weeks of session. Here is a portion of Representative Emily Weber’s remarks on this issue.
2025 Legislative Session - Day Seventy - Tuesday, May 13
Representative Mike Steinmeyer spoke on the issue, saying he appreciates that we have a governor that has allowed those in Jackson County have had time to work out the tetails. He is grateful for these teams that are job providers and that we have seen what a Super Bowl winning team brings us: massive parades, the draft. He continued saying that this gives the governor another tool in the toolbox and he will be supporting the amendment. You can hear Representative Steinmeyer’s complete remarks below.
2025 Legislative Session - Day Seventy - Tuesday, May 13
Representative Butts also spoke to the issue saying that anyone from St Louis, this is a difficult vote and we still have an empty stadium in the state.
Representative Del Taylor spoke next. Representative Taylor is a democrat, but asked in this exchange GOOD questions. Where is the fiscal note, why wasn’t a bill filed. It’s amazing that bill after bill, including this amendment to this bill that the supermajority is not asking the questions, but the democrats do.
2025 Legislative Session - Day Seventy - Tuesday, May 13
The debate continued with Representatives from different parts of the state speaking mostly for some type of deal to be reached but expressing concern over the process. Richard West spoke on how this idea could be used to help small businesses, but it’s the big businesses that only get deals like this. Wellenkamp said this will help small businesses like bake shops as they have increased business baking for these special events. Sheilds, Viet and Reuter also spoke in favor of the bill.
Representative Wolfin spoke again on the constitution citing Article 1 sections 2 and 3, as well as Article 3 Section 38.
There were a number of other Representatives spoke on both sides of the aisle that aren’t noted here. Overall it was a fairly thorough discussion on the amendment. Even the budget chair was inquired inn.
The amendment passed with a vote of 103-43 with 9 voting present and 6 absent without leave.
The adopting the Senate Committee Substitute as amended passed with a vote of 108-40 with 7 voting present and 6 absent
And with that, the House adjourned for the day around 2:28pm.
NOTES FROM THE HOUSE, WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 2025:
The was scheduled to come to order and was called to order at 10:14am
Prayer by Representative Brian Seitz and Speaker Patterson led the Pledge of Allegiance
The Journal of the House was approved for the 71st legislative day with a vote of 142-0.
Representative Bill Irwin asked to be recognized for a point of personal privilege and spoke of different officers for National Police Week.
Representative Kent Haden asked for a moment of silence for former Governor Kit Bond and former Senator Kit Bond, who served 2 terms as governor and 24 years as Senator.
Representative Burt Whaley announced he has a new grandchild.
There were additional thank yous from representatives to the interns that had served in their office for this legislative session as well as school groups, friends and family in attendance.
Representative Jeff Vernetti introduced Mr Kenneth Brooks Miller who has been a part of the Jordan Valley Medical facilities in the Springfield Missouri area before retiring who was just appointed to the Missouri State Board of Education.
Representative Kathy Jo Loy introduced Camellia Peterson.
Bills in Conference Committee were the first category of bills brought total the House Floor on Wednesday.
SB150 carried by Representative Ann Kelley spoke to this education bill that the IB or International Baccalaureate program had been dropped from the bill, the community college credit hours transferring to 4 year Missouri University Schools did stay. A democrat representative wanted to thank the Speaker and those who worked on this bill, but that was no small feat, but this will challenge faculty and the schools to facilitate the transfer of college credits from JUCO’s to 4 year State Schools.
Representative Murphy stated that the lady from Barton worked so hard on this bill and the negotiation for the last 2 weeks over the last 4 years of work was very interesting.
Representative Mazzie Christensen thanked Representative Kelley for removing the International Baccalaureate program sot hat she could vote for this legislation.
Representative Shields stated that Ann Kelley has worked for 4 years on the transfer of credits.
Theresa Conference Committee Report was passed on SB150 by a vote of 147-2 and a vote of 148-2 the bill was Totally and Agreed and Finally Passed. The next step for this bill is the Governor’s desk.
Next were Reports from Committee
The Fiscal Review COmmittee have recommended that SB10, HB199 and SB221 all pass.
Senate Bills for 3rd Read Informal were next.
Representative Brad Banderman brought SB49 and 118 had its titled approved city a voice vote. This change in Missouri Statute will allow School Chaplains to be hired or allowed on campuses to work as a chaplain for public schools who choose to allow the position. Often times after a tragic death or other trauma that effects an entire school local clergy as brought in as grief counselors. SB499 and 118 were filed by Senators Black and Moon. When listening to some of the debate on this bill in the Senate the stats of improved attendance rates, lower suicide rates, lower teen pregnancy rates as well as improved graduation rates were found when this positional has been allowed in other states.
Democrat Representatives Kari Ingle asked if there was a fear of indoctrination with this change and would there be a requirement for a parental sign off to talk to a chaplain. Representative Banderman says this bill doesn’t require a signature, but doesn’t prevent a school from requiring a parental signature to allow their child to speak to a school chaplain.
Here is an exchange between the Education Committee Chair Ed Lewis with bill carrier Brad Banderman. Not only does this reference keeping this bill clean and not tampered with, he references one of the filers in the Senate who is adamant on single subject bills, that would be Senator Mike Moon who is VERY strong on adherent to the Missouri State Constitution on single subject bills, but insinuates that bother bills are not when amended….the rest of the clip does go on to clarify what a school chaplain does and doesn’t do.
There was additional discussion on who would qualify to be allowed to hold the chaplain position. The bill was amended in the Senate to use the approved list of faiths that a person can belong to be an official chaplain by the Department of Defense. Also discussed by the democrats were the desire to have additional guardrails on who would be allowed o be chaplains as well as chaplain defined in state statute.
Representative Jamie Gragg inquired of Banderman to add clarity to the issue that the local school board would actually do the hiring of the specific individual and they will make the decision if the person fits the needs of their school and community.
Representative Mazzie Christensen pointed out that the DOD list can change.
Representative Raychel Proudie stated that it “tickles my fancy” that Republicans don’t want to co-parents with public schools, yet will support a chaplain in public schools. She also continued with saying that the only persona. School Board actually hires is the Superintendent. There has been much discussion on this topic amongst education advocates. The continued discussion on this issue between Proudie and Banderman is a pretty good summary of the ongoing debate with several democrat representatives that spoke on the bill.
The bill passed with a vote of 85-57 with 5 voting present and 14 absent
Next up was the Lemonade Bill. Senator Mary Elizabeth Coleman filed this bill to try to fix something that happened in the small town of Kimswicke Missouri when someone wanted to have a lemonade stand in this historical town along the banks of the Mississippi River. This little town is known for the quaint stores and festivals, but the municipality requires a license for kids to even sell lemonade for 1 day during an annual festival. Senator Coleman filed the bill that would only change that the kids that want to participate in the 1 day a year festival wouldn’t have to get a business license to participate.
Representative Mazzie Christensen spoke on the bill and told the story of a friend of hers in Louisiana, same age as the representative can never run for office because she violated Louisiana law at the age of 15 by having her own lemonade stand. Mazzie continued by saying that this is a freedom loving bill and should be supported.
2025 Legislative Session - Day Seventy One - Wednesday, May 14
After a lengthy debate, and fear mongering about the change in the statutes that would allow this, saying that businesses could be created and use someone under age to get around licensure of the business as a whole. Representative Casteel was the bill carrier in the house and after a lengthy discussion on what the bill might do, what it should do, the Floor Leader asked if the bill handler would yield, and he did, and that bill was announced that it would hold its place on calendar of the House.
Who would have thought that a simple bill to help ids sell lemonade for one day would cause such an issue! Stay tuned! This bill was not dead!
The Floor Leader called for announcements and with a couple of small announcements the House adjourned until Thursday Morning 10am.
NOTES FROM THE MISSOURI HOUSE ON MAY 15, 2025 (LAST DAY OF SESSION):
The House came to order at 10:15am with Representative Seitz praying, including Monsenior Kerwicki who is actual official chaplain of the House, asking for healing for the Monsenior.
Representatives Jeff Myers spoke on Police Officers killed in the line of duty in 2005 for National Police Week.
Representative Don Mayhew recognized Marla W from the House Communications Department. Marla is the individual that creates the Resolutions that are created and printed for Births, deaths, anniversaries, achievements, inductions, graduations etc for all the Representatives. Representative Mayhew announced that the Legislator Assistants in the House had honored Marla previously that morning for her endless work on creating these resolutions and he wanted to also recognize her on the House floor. She has been known to come in on the weekend or have one of her staff meet a representative on a weekend, doing so for Representative Mayhew to take to a funeral on very short notice.
More recognitions of interns that have served in the House this session.
The first category of bills up for debate and final vote were House Bills with Senate Amendments. Representative Bill Faulkner was the representative that filed the underlying bill. When Representatives Faulkner introduced this bill on the floor, he said he knows this bill is like the education bill and other bills, is a big bill. The original bill is about bond payments and allowing mechanics liens to be filed. Representative Faulkner then inquired of a number of representatives that have their bills in this bill as amendments. The first Faulkner inquired of was Representative Peggy McGaugh about her legislation that would allow county financial statements to be published online instead of only published in the newspaper that has cost to it. She stated that she has been filing this bill for 7 years.
Representatives Mazzie Christensen was next who had filed a bill that would waive the HUGE penalties that a small town of 120 people had levied on them for failing to filing certain reports when a city clerk had resigned.
Representative Ann Kelly also has provisions in this bill as well as Representative Barry Hovis from Cape Girardeau who has a design build bill that is also included. This clip shows how multiple representatives got the language that they carried in individuals bills across the finish line by piling them all onto a bill that had the same theme or subject on the underlying bill.
The inquiries continued with Representative Sherry Gallick’s language that would remove the requirement in Cass County that requires physical signs to be put in each township throughout the county for public meetings and this would allow 15 days advanced notice for planning and zoning meetings to be published other than physical signs in the ground.
Greene County has a nuisance property provision to require absentee property owners to mow the weeds/grass on their property. This provision is a bi scary, what are the penalties? Can a property owner have their property taken away if they fail to maintain it to a political subdivisions standards?
Representative Wellenkamp got his language for community improvement districts to be allowed to borrow from a revolving fund by the State of Missouri to address flood control if the improvement district or HOA incorporates.
There was another piece in the bill pertaining to valuation guides and tools for a valuation book used by assessors. There was discussion that this came out a of a bill that was controversial, but the representative that proposed the bill stated that the controversial portion of the bill was dumped and the only thing that remained was not controversial. The democrat from Greene County still had concerns and stated that they guess they will just have to find out what is in the bill when it is implemented
The Port Authority of St Louis also is addressed in the bill. Also included are provisions that vehicle assessments cannot grow on a vehicle from year to year.
Representative Mayhew spoke to a section of the bill that would allow small rural towns that have difficulty finding enough residents within the city limits to include people who own property within the city limits and live within a very small radius of the city.
Representative Walsh Moore stated that this is overall a great bill, but asking about specifics in HB1258 problem property and does it affect the Greene County area. She spoke on Restoring SGF and 1/2 of the improvement cost of a property could be covered by matching funds available.
The bill was PQ’d and with a vote of 104-31 the House adopted the Senate substitute and with a vote of 134-16 the bill was Totally Agreed and Finally Passed.
Senate bills for 3rd Read were next
This was an interesting day because the Senate had adjourned the previous day, so some of these bills had had additional House amendments added to them, but because the Senate was gone, the House was forced to adopt the previously passed Senate version, losing changes made by the House afterwards.
Senate Bill 133 carried in the House by Josh Hurlbert fixes the 811 board underground lines. This will require that newly installed underground lines have tracing capabilities and that any construction/digging work around marked lines must be done within 21 days of the lines being marked. This bill was Totally Agreed and Finally passed with a vote of 151-3.
SB3 Carried by Representatives Hinman pertains to license bureau offices raising license fees and a non-compete clause for any employee within a year of working in a license office cannot bid and get the contract for an office within that 1 year. The fee increases will not be applied to Real ID costs. Just the day before the operator of the fee office in WIllow Springs had told her Representative that she cannot operate another week and closed her doors, as the individual offices are given a very small percentage of the fee collected and the fees have not had an increase since 1999. The conversation was had that either the fees must be raised or fee offices will close all over the state, requiring people in rural areas to have to travel much longer distances to renew plates, drivers licenses and ID’s.
SB3 was Totally Agreed and Finally Passed with a vote of 131-18
SB221 carried by Representative Ben Keathley in the House and the representative asked that the adoption of the House Substitute be voted on his motion made “tongue in cheek”. Remember the Senate was already gone, so if the House advanced the House version after the last Senate vote, the bill would be dead. Tongue in cheek indicated that the bill handler didn’t want the House Substitute to be passed. Representative Viet agreed with the tongue in cheek motion even though he was losing 3-4 bills of his own that were included in SB221. There was discussion that this bill puts into Missouri statute the provision of the Chevron deference decision by the US Supreme Court. Representative David Tyson-Smith, a democrat attorney in the House said that this bill contains Good Stuff. THe provisions the House had attached included electronic wills and additional circuit judges. The voice vote to adopt the House Substitute failed, just as the bill carrier indicated was his desire.
The titling motion was then approved.
Representative Tyson Smith once again spoke on the bill saying this bill allows state agencies to make rules and promulgation of the same rules and the courts had to evaluate the rules within the agencies, this would allow the courts to look back at the state statute instead of deference to the agency.
Representative Wolfin inquired next of Representative Keathley on the now single subject bill that came over from the Senate and that he can now support the bill, followed by the House giving Representative Wolfin a round of applause for being able to support the bill!
2025 Legislative Session - Day Seventy Two - Thursday, May 15
The Bill passed with a vote of 120-20
SB271 Carried by Dane Diehl. SB271 has Emergency Service parameters including fireman’s retirement, wayfair specialty districts, ambulance district training, sexual assault transfers for investigation purposes to a facility that is better equipped to handle the victims of sexual assault for investigation purposes, EMS administration care protection and sales taxes for ambulance and fire districts are increasing from a possible .5cents allowed on the ballot to a full 1 cent on the ballot. Representative Diehl said that all the bills that are included in this bill had had involvement on the House Side. Representative Diehl stated that the language different from HB533 on rural structures. Walsh Moore said she feels like it doesn’t fit, what is a farm structure, it could be anything, as farm structure is not defined. Can it be a residence or can. It be a CAFO. Some municipalities had put in place fire restrictions that would prevent CAFO’s from being allowed in their area.
Dr Hruza spoke in favor of this bill in that it has the Good Samaritan provisions in the bill. That he should not have to worry, as a physician, going forward, that if he acted in good faith treating someone at the scene of an accident, sporting event, or on an airplane, that he couldn’t get sued for harm done.
SB271 was Totally Agreed and Finally Passed with a vote of 139-10 with 1 voting present.
Senate Bills for 3rd Read from the Informal Calendar was next. Once again bill was introduced tongue in cheek of the House Substitute, this time for Senate Bill 79 by Representative Brad Pollitt. Representatives Pollitt stated this removed 6 amendments. Representative Cupps chimed in that this airplane has run out of runway and the motion failed.
SB79 is the Farm Bureau Health Care BIll. Farm Bureau has been asking to be alllowed to sell a contract that would cover medical services by their agents, but their agents do not have specific training to sell medical insurance. These contracts also do not meet every requirement and don’t have certain limitations on them, including being required to take every patient with a pre-existing condition and not be allowed to cancel a policy for certain reasons. The face of these contracts will be required to have a 16 point font stating that this is not insurance. There is a 30 day waiting period. The fiscal note says there is no cost to Missourian, that 9/10 that apply for the health coverage will be accepted and that the cost of the contract will be approximately 30% lower than those offered by the Affordable Care Act. There was pushback on this I bill in that there could be a lack or required health care benefits for females. The representative from Greene county said that the Senate made the bill better by addressing some of the democrats concerns.
Democrat representative Reedy tried to bring immigration into this discussion by saying DACA recipients wouldn’t qualify….
Representative Amato said that he’s a city slicker and is supporting farmers. Also in this bill are provisions that telehealth providers can do audio only consults within patients because in rural areas it’s common to not have reliable enough internet to also get a good video feed for the consult.
Representative Wolfin asked what has been taken off the bill.
1. Provisions for hospital investments
2. Provisions for EMS ambulance services
3. Waving prior authorization from insurance companies
4. Contraceptives available for 180 days, they will continue with a 90 day supply
5. Clarified informed consent language.
SB271 passed with a vote of 147-1 with 1 voting present.
SB2 was brought to the floor by Representative Peggy McGaugh. This bill was also brought to the floor within the first motion made tongue in cheek, indicating that the House Committee Substitute needed to fail. Again, the Senate adjourned the day before and there was no more time to get the last Senate approval on these bill that had been previously negotiated with the Senate for additions, so the House made the decision to adopted the last Senate version of these bills as apposed to letting the entire bill die. The motion for the House committee substitute did fail, the title was adopted with a voice vote.
Representative Wash Moore said this bill has been around a long time and to my friends up front, it is now a single subject bill. This is language previously struck down by the Supreme Court and is one of the most boring pieces of legislation you will read.
Representative Mazzie Christensen spoke on the bill that this is a single subject bill that equals FREEDOM. This bill passed 151-0-0
SB145 carried by Representatives David Castille, the Lemonade Stand Bill. was once again brought to the floor. Representative BIll Hardwick immediately inquired of Castille and Hardwick, in attorney style, gave a lesson on what the bill does and what the bill doesn’t do. This bill will ONLY address a business license from the local municipality’s. This bill will not negate the health department from doing an inspection for food or drink, this bill will not allow a minor to do a fireworks show, this bill won’t allow a business to get around their business license or not require the collection of sales tax. It should be no different than letting kids mow yards in the summer.
Representative Murphy spoke and said that this is a legal 2-step.
Representative Cupps said to Hardwick that this is a freedom bill and tried to inquire of Representative Perkins, who was acting speaker at the time, but as speaker is not allowed to participate in an inquiry.
The was some fun banter back and forth as both Representatives Hardwick and Mayhew are from Pulaski county and there was something confusion on which Representative Castille wanted to inquire of first, when Hardwick gave the law lesson. Mayhew said to Cupps that the first inquiry should have been to Mayhew as he has been a freedom lover from birth. Mayhew then asked Hardwick how you spell freedom and for the 2nd time this year Hardwick spelled freedom on the floor H-A-R-D-W-I-C-K.
Representative Rene Reuter said this type of over regulation kills creativeity with the giant list of rules and regulations before they get started.
This bill was Totally Agreed and Finally Passed 108-21-14
SB82 carried by Cameron Parker is the water exportation/water rights bill.
This next clip is the entirety of the debate on the water bill. Please listen carefully to Representative Byrnes and Representatives Reuter’s comments on this bill. The clip starts with Representative Byrnes asking good questions, including points made on there being no limits placed on the selling of water once the permit is issued and there is nothing to stop large corporations from selling Missouri water for profit to outside the state.
Representative WIllar Haley spoke in favor of the bill saying sometimes we overthink legislation.
Another representative quoted T Boone Pickens who said many years ago that water is the next oil, but spoke in favor of the bill.
Rene Reuter spoke saying water is the most precious resource and that this bill brought up on the last day of session with little time to debate the bill she will be voting present.
Representatives Wellenkamp speaks on the threat this bill is trying to mediate is real and reference the single Great Lakes Compact and that the Mississippi River Compact is in ongoing negotiations to create water security.
Another representative spoke that the bill is necessary to protect water resources and that the DNR is not perfect but he trusts them.
Representative Doyle Justice said he first heard the bill 3 years ago in the House Agriculture Committee and that its intent is to prevent bulk exportation.
Representatives Proudie, Walsh Moore and Barry Hovis all spoke in favor of the bill. Representative Bill Owen of Springfield stated taht he didn’t know by the House was filibustering the bill as it has support.
SB82 passed with a vote of 116-23 with 1 voting present.
2025 Legislative Session - Day Seventy Two - Thursday, May 15
SB105 the Invasive Species bill filed by Senator Mike Bernskoetter, carried by Representative Bruce Sasseman in the House.
This bill was also brought to the floor with the tongue in cheek motion on the House Committee Substitute, making the last Senate version the version to be voted on. This bill addresses the selling of Bradford Pear trees, Honeysuckle and burning bush. Perilla Mint was added in the Senate by the request of the Cattleman’s association.
Representative Jeff Farnan asked the question, what was the purpose of outlawing the sale of the Bradford pear and Sasseman replied that the Bradford pear is a sterile tree, but it can cross pollinate with a none-stile tree and that is what we see everywhere that is so invasive.
This bill passed with a vote of 124-19
Representative Cook from Texas County enthusiastically introduced the best governor in the United States of America who was on the Dias at the time.
SB152 carried by Representative Murphy. Concerning the foreign funding of interference in Missouri elections ban.
A democrat representative said that this created additional disclosure with declaration on every donation on the citizenship making this very impractical.
This bill passed with a vote of 94-47
A benediction prayer was said by Representatives Brian Seitz and the House adjourned for the year at 2:05pm on Thursday May 15.
In coming days, starting with the senate, we will break down all of the bad parts of each bill that is slated to become law. We will also create a true score card in coming weeks. Stay tuned.
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