Legislative update: State of the Judiciary, bills begin crossing over

General Assembly

The General Assembly reconvened on Monday, February 6, 2023, for a busy week, including a joint session to receive the State of the Judiciary address from Chief Justice Paul Wilson.

The Senate has sent seven bills and one joint resolution to the House for consideration:

• SS SCS SBs 3 & 69 (Hoskins), relating to the promotion of business development
• SS SB 25 (Hough), relating to a tax exemption for certain federal grants
• SB 51 (Eslinger), relating to the scope of practice for physical therapists
• SS SCS SB 100 (Eigel), relating to legal tender
• SB 109 (Bernskoetter), relating to mining
• SS SB 111 (Bernskoetter), relating to the administration of state employees
• SS SB 116 (Brown – 16), relating to the disposition of the dead
• SS SJR 3 (Koenig), relating to taxation

Additionally, on Wednesday, February 8, 2023, the Senate perfected SS#2 SCS SBs 4, 42 & 89 (Koenig), relating to elementary and secondary education, which is now on the Formal Calendar – Senate Bills for Third  Reading.  As of Friday, February 10, 2023, there are twenty-four Senate bills on the Formal and Informal Calendars – Senate Bills for Perfection.    

The House has sent two bills to the Senate for consideration: 

• HCS HBs 115 & 99 (Shields), relating to the scope of practice for physical therapists
• HCS HB 301 (Roberts), relating to public safety

On Thursday, February 9, 2023, HCS HJR 43 (Henderson), relating to constitutional amendments, was referred to the Senate Local Government and Elections Committee and scheduled for a public hearing on Monday, February 13, 2023.  HJR 43 proposes to raise the threshold for voter approval of proposed constitutional amendments from a simple majority to sixty percent of the votes cast.  On the same day, the House also perfected HCS HB 14 (Smith), an early supplemental appropriations bill that includes a proposed pay raise for state employees.

To see more bills of interest, organized by subject or practice area, visit The Missouri Bar’s Legislative Engagement Center (and bookmark the page).  These bills of interest feeds are automatically updated with the latest status of the bills listed and provide links to individual bill webpages.  The bills of interest listed at the end of this update are just a sample of those already introduced this year, many of which could significantly impact the administration of justice, the integrity of the judiciary, or the dignity of the profession of law.    If you have any questions or comments about specific legislation, please contact Government Relations staff at 573-659-2280 or govrel@mobar.org for more information.   

Bar-Initiated Legislative Proposals (2023 Introduced Legislation)

COMMITTEE HEARINGS OF INTEREST

Senate

N.B.:  The “Witnesses” links for Senate committees will lead to the “Committee Minutes” page of the relevant committee.  On the “Committee Minutes” page, scroll to the appropriate bill number in the middle column of the page and click the “View” button.

The Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee met on February 6, 2023, and held public hearings on the following legislation:

• SB 118 (Luetkemeyer), modifies provisions relating to detention on arrest without a warrant – Witnesses
  
  Support:  Representatives of the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners, and the Kansas City Police Department
  
  Oppose:  Representatives of the Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, the NAACP, and the Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty
   
• SB 215 (Roberts), establishes provisions relating to alternative dispute resolution – Witnesses
  
  Support:  Representatives of The Missouri Bar

The committee took action on the following legislation in executive session:

• SCS SB 72 (Trent), establishing the Judicial Privacy Act, which provides restrictions on the use of a judicial officer’s personal information – Do Pass by a vote of 6 to 0
   
• SCS SB 103 (Crawford), modifying the expiration dates for provisions relating to court automation – Do Pass by a vote of 6 to 0
   
• SCS SBs 119 & 120 (Luetkemeyer), relating to first responders – Do Pass by a vote of 5 to 1

The Senate Health and Welfare Committee met on February 1, 2023, and held public hearings on the following legislation:

• SB 106 (Arthur), prohibiting the performance of certain patient examinations upon anaesthetized or unconscious patients – Witnesses
  
  Support:  Representatives of the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence and the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault
   
• SB 198 (Thompson Rehder), modifying provisions relating to the waiver of fees for birth certificates for certain victims – Witnesses
  
  Support:  Representatives of the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, the Missouri Coalition for Children, and the Missouri Center for Public Health Excellence
   
• SB 204 (Moon), repealing the certificated of need law – Witnesses
  
  Support:  Representatives of Baptist Homes and Healthcare Ministries, Missouri First, and Opportunity Solutions Project
  
  Oppose: Representatives of the Missouri Health Care Association, the Missouri Hospital Association, BJC Healthcare Systems, Associated Industries of Missouri, SSM Health Care, St. Louis Area Business Health Coalition, University of Missouri Healthcare, Mercy Healthcare Systems, NHA Management LLC, RAYUS Radiology, and the Missouri Assisted Living Association

The committee took action on the following legislation in executive session:

• SB 82 (Coleman), modifying provisions relating to public assistance – Do Pass by a vote of 7 to 0
   
• SJR 4 (Koenig), modifying provisions relating to MO HealthNet beneficiaries, providers, and services – Do Pass by a vote of 4 to 3

The Senate Appropriation Committee met on February 9, 2023, and heard budget presentations for the Judiciary and the Department of Conservation.
 

House

The House Judiciary Committee met on February 6, 2023, and held public hearings on the following legislation:

• HB 389 (Veit), modifies and establishes offenses involving the disclosure of personal information – Electronic Witness Forms
  
  Support:  Representatives of the Judicial Conference of Missouri and RELX, Inc.
   
• HB 84 (Veit), establishes the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act – Electronic Witness Forms
  
  Support:  Representatives of the Missouri Organization of Defense Lawyers and the Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
   
• HB 984 (Hicks), establishes provisions relating to the disclosure of personal information – Electronic Witness Forms
  
  Support:  Representative of David Humphreys
  
  Oppose:  Representative of RELX Inc.
  
  For Information:  Representative of the Missouri Insurance Coalition
   
• HB 994 (Parker), changes provisions relating to orders of protection – Electronic Witness Forms
   
• HB 911 (Evans), modifies provisions relating to the appointment of a guardian or conservator – Electronic Witness Forms
  
  Archived Video of Committee Hearing

The House Subcommittee on Appropriations – General Administration met on February 6, 2023, and heard budget presentations for the Office of the Lieutenant Governor and the Judiciary.

Archived Video of Committee Hearing

The House Children and Families Committee met on February 7, 2023, and held public hearings on the following legislation:

• HB 454 (Coleman), modifies provisions relating to criminal offenses involving a child – Electronic Witness Forms
  
  Support: Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, Missouri Kidsfirst, and the Missouri Coalition for Children
   
• HB 719 (Riley), modifies provisions relating to public assistance – Electronic Witness Forms 
  
  Support:  Representatives of the Missouri Coalition for Children, Empower Missouri, the Missouri Workforce Housing Association, Kids Win Missouri, AARP, the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, Goodwill of Western Missouri, BJC Healthcare Systems, the National Association of Social Workers – MO Chapter, Missouri KidsFirst, St. Louis County, Health Forward Foundation, Catholic Charities of St. Louis, and the Missouri Catholic Conference
  
  For Information:  Representative of the Missouri Foundation for Health
   
• HB 283 (Kelly – 141), creates provisions relating to patient examinations – Electronic Witness Forms
  
  Support: Representatives of the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence and Rape and Abuse Crisis Services of Central Missouri, 
   
• HB 714 (Kelly – 141),modifies provisions related to the adoption tax credit – Electronic Witness Forms
  
  Support: Representatives of A Gift of Hope Adoptions, the Missouri Coalition for Children, Campaign Life Missouri, Missouri Right to Life, and the Missouri Catholic Conference
  
  Archived Video of Committee Hearing

The House Budget Committee met on February 7, 2023, and met in executive session on the following legislation:

• HCS HB 14 (Smith – 163), to appropriate money for supplemental purposes – Do Pass by a vote of 36 to 0
  
  Archived Video of Committee Hearing

The House General Laws Committee met on February 7, 2023, and held a public hearing on the following legislation:

• HB 942 (Myers), modifying provisions relating to siren use for emergency vehicles operated as police vehicles – Electronic Witness Forms
  
  Archived Video of Committee Hearing

The House Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee met on February 9, 2023, and held public hearings on the following:

• HB 53 (Copeland), returning the control of the City of St. Louis Police Department back to the Board of Police Commissioners – Electronic Witness Forms
   
• HB 213 (Sparks), returning the control of the City of St. Louis Police Department back to the Board of Police Commissioners – Electronic Witness Forms
   
• HB 216 (Myers), returning the control of the City of St. Louis Police Department back to the Board of Police Commissioners – Electronic Witness Forms
   
• HB 306 (Perkins), returning the control of the City of St. Louis Police Department back to the Board of Police Commissioners – Electronic Witness Forms
   
• HB 359 (Cook), modifying provisions relating to the funding and operation of police departments – Electronic Witness Forms
   
• HB 702 (Christ), Modifies provisions relating to the operation of certain law enforcement agencies – Electronic Witness Forms
  
  N.B.:  Because the above legislation dealt with the same subject matter, testimony was taken on these bills together.
  
  Support:  Representatives of the St. Louis Police Officers Association, the Missouri Fraternal Order of Police, the Ethical Society of Police Officers, and the St. Louis County Police Officers Association,
  
  Oppose:  Director of Public Safety for the City of St. Louis) the Chief of Staff to Mayor Tishaura Jones), and representatives of Action St. Louis and Empower Missouri
  
  Archived Video of Committee Hearing
   

Legislative Dates to Remember

First Regular Session

Veto Session