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The Week of May 11, 2026 |
On the Floor The Senate discussed the following bills on the floor:
The Senate third read and passed the following bills this week:
The following bills were truly agreed to and finally passed this week and will be sent to the governor’s desk for his consideration:
Other News Supreme Court rules congressional map not blocked
The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously ruled on May 12 that the state’s newly gerrymandered congressional map is not currently suspended but said if a referendum petition seeking to block it pending a statewide vote ultimately is certified for the ballot, the map will never have legally taken effect and won’t become law unless approved by voters on Nov. 3.
In other words, according to the court, while the new districts have the presumption of being in effect, if the secretary of state determines the petition has enough signatures from registered voters to qualify for the ballot, then the districts retroactively didn’t take effect from the date the petition was filed in December. Public records from the secretary of state’s office indicate more than enough valid signatures have been verified to meet constitutional requirements.
The court’s ruling creates even more uncertainty heading into this year’s elections, leaving it still unclear whether Missouri’s eight-member congressional delegation will be elected under the districts enacted in 2022 that were supposed to last a decade or the map adopted last fall.
Under more than a century of practice and Supreme Court precedent, a referendum petition immediately suspended a challenged bill from becoming law upon being filed with the state. However, the secretary of state declared that House Bill 1 (2025), the gerrymandering legislation, took effect Dec. 11, even though a referendum petition to stop it was filed Dec. 9.
The Missouri Constitution says: “Any measure referred to the people shall take effect when approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon, and not otherwise.” However, the secretary of state said that provision hasn’t been triggered since he hasn’t officially determined whether the HB 1 petition has enough valid signatures. He said he will delay certification until Aug. 4, which is both the statutory deadline for doing so and the day of the state’s primary elections for Congress and other offices.
In the opinion, the court agreed HB 1 isn’t suspended until the secretary of state makes that determination. But if he does certify it for the ballot, then HB 1 never took effect and is retroactively blocked from the date the petition was filed, according to the ruling.
“If the Dec. 9 referendum petition filing is ultimately determined to be insufficient, HB 1 became the law on Dec. 11 under (the constitution) because no ‘legal, sufficient and timely’ referendum petition was filed,” the judge wrote.
“If, however, the Dec. 9 referendum petition filing is ultimately determined to be sufficient, (the constitutional provision) applies. In that case, because a ‘legal, sufficient and timely’ referendum petition was filed on Dec. 9 – before HB 1 went into effect on Dec. 11 – HB 1 did not take effect on Dec. 11, HB 1 was ‘referred to the people’ as of Dec. 9 and HB 1 ‘shall take effect when approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon, and not otherwise.’”
The ruling sets up a situation under which the primary election is conducted under the 2025 congressional map, but the general election is held using the 2022 map since the 2025 version would be suspended and retroactively never took effect.
In another unanimous ruling in two separate cases that were combined for arguments, the court rejected claims that HB 1 violates a state constitutional requirement that congressional districts be “as compact … as may be” since it stretches new the 5th Congressional District across the state. The district historically has been centered in Kansas City. In a decision penned by the chief justice, the court said the plaintiffs didn’t prove the new map violates constitutional standards.
“(T)here are many different ways to draw a congressional district, and all that matters is the district is properly drawn according to the mandates of the constitution,” the chief justice wrote. “Appellants had to prove the 2025 Map and the challenged districts fail the compactness requirements, not that there is a better way to meet the requirements. They failed to do so.”
The referendum case is Jake Maggard, et al., v. State of Missouri. The compactness cases are Elizabeth Healey, et al., v. State of Missouri and Terrance Wise v. State of Missouri.
Sales tax plan challenged for constitutional violations Opponents of the plan to impose a massive sales tax hike on all goods and services filed a lawsuit May 13 arguing the measure is constitutionally defective and can’t appear on the statewide ballot because it seeks to amend multiple articles in the state constitution in violation of a requirement limiting amendments to changing just a single article.
House Joint Resolution 173, which the General Assembly passed last month over directly amends the constitutional article pertaining to taxation. The lawsuit, filed in Cole County Circuit Court, alleges HJR 173 also would override, suspend or modify provisions in at least four other articles – those pertaining to the Legislature, executive branch, local government and public education.
“Amending multiple articles in a single proposed constitutional amendment is impermissible and renders it unfit for any ballot,” according to the lawsuit.
House Joint Resolution 173, which currently is slated to appear on the Nov. 3 ballot as Amendment 5, would nullify existing state constitutional prohibitions against imposing sales taxes on services and real estate transactions and broadly authorize lawmakers “to impose taxes on transactions involving any goods and services.”
It also would exempt sales tax hikes from being subject to a constitutional prohibition against lawmakers raising taxes without voter approval and waive another provision earmarking revenue from taxes on motor vehicle sales for road and bridge projects, among numerous other changes. The measure would authorize lawmakers to use the newly generated sales tax revenue to eliminate the state’s individual income tax.
If the court declines to remove Amendment 5 from the ballot, the lawsuit asks the judge to rewrite the deceptive ballot language lawmakers prepared for it. Among the various alleged problems with the language are that it fails to mention the measure’s central purpose of authorizing lawmakers to hike sales taxes on all goods and services, instead saying only that it would “modify” the sales tax. The case is Jill Owens v. Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, et al.
Anti-abortion bill wins final legislative approval The Missouri House of Representatives on May 14 voted 102-46, with one lawmaker voting “present,” to grant final passage to legislation purporting to declare that killing a baby after birth following an allegedly failed abortion is first degree murder – even though killing a baby after birth already is and always has been first degree murder. The bill now goes to the governor.
Proponents touted Senate Bill 999, which they gave the moniker of the “Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act,” as providing a necessary protection for newborns but struggled to explain why the existing murder statute doesn’t cover the situations they claimed to be addressing.
Opponents derided the bill as an election year anti-abortion messaging stunt that could nonetheless lead to baseless criminal charges against women suffering from miscarriages and have a chilling effect on medical personnel who would be afraid of providing lawful and necessary care for fear of being charged with murder by an overzealous anti-abortion prosecutor.
The Senate barely approved SB 999 a week earlier on vote of 18-14, mustering the bare minimum of “yes” votes needed for passage. Four staunchly anti-abortion senators voted against the measure after they objected to changes they said weakened the bill and left it vulnerable to a court challenge for violating the state constitution’s prohibition against bills containing multiple subjects.
One deleted provision sought to broadly authorize civil lawsuits against medical staff who participate in providing abortions, including medication abortions. Additions to the bill include creating a Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review Board, modifying the legal standards for domestic abuse and strengthening laws against harassment and cyberstalking.
Lawmakers grant final passage to porn website restrictions The Missouri House of Representatives on May 13 voted 112-25, with one lawmaker voting “present,” to grant final passage to legislation intended to prevent children from accessing pornographic websites. The Senate approved it a day earlier by a vote of 32-0.
House Bill 1839 would require any commercial entity that publishes a website on which at least one-third of the content consists of sexual material to use a third-party age verification system to ensure the site can’t be accessed by anyone younger than 18. The restrictions would not apply to news websites or broadcasts nor limit the rights of news-gathering organizations.
While there was no dissent during debate about the need to prevent children from accessing pornographic sites, some lawmakers expressed concern that the bill’s definition of “sexual material harmful to minors” is overly broad and subjective and could be used to target depictions protected by the First Amendment.
Although the Attorney General’s Office would be tasked with enforcing the bill, some lawmakers were skeptical that the bill could actually be enforced given the global nature of the internet and limited reach of Missouri law.
Bill allows rounding on cash purchases after penny’s demise The Missouri Senate voted 22-5 on May 12 to send legislation to the governor legalizing the already common practice among some businesses of rounding to the nearest nickel when dispensing change to customers for cash purchases. The House of Representatives previously approved the bill by a vote of 145-0 in March.
Because the U.S. Mint stopped producing pennies earlier this year, many businesses have found it difficult to obtain enough of the coins to provide change for cash transactions. The cost of producing a penny had exceeded one cent for many years, with a penny costing an estimated 3.7-cents to make by the time production ceased.
Under House Bill 2819, an amount ending in one, two, six or seven cents could be rounded down to the nearest nickel. Amounts ending in three, four, eight or nine cents would be rounded up. The rounding authorized by HB 2819 would not apply to electronic transactions since no change is dispensed.
As many of you know, this is my last year serving in the Missouri Legislature. I look forward to sharing more information with you about the 2026 session in my End of Session Newsletter in the next couple of weeks.
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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. |
