Bills that DID NOT PASS

SHORTENING STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS ON PERSONAL INJURY – DID NOT PASS
House Bill 68 (Overcast R-Ava) was passed by the Missouri House on February 20th by a vote of 92-42 and later passed out of the Senate General Laws Committee. The bill died on the Senate Floor Calendar in the final weeks of session. Currently, actions for personal injury or bodily injury, including those relating to uninsured motorist coverage or underinsured motorist coverage, must be brought within five years from the date the injury occurred. This legislation would have reduced the time frame to two years from when the injury occurred, for injuries occurring after August 28, 2025. The bill has strong support from the Missouri business community and was opposed by the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys. We expect this legislation to return in 2026 as good progress was made during the 2025 session in advancing this issue past the Missouri House.

MEDIA LITERACY ACT – DID NOT PASS
House Bill 116 (Murphy, R-St. Louis) would have established the Media Literacy and Critical Thinking Act, a pilot program in some schools. The bill’s concepts included an individual's ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and participate with all forms of media, including news in print and social media content, and recognize bias and stereotypes in media, as well as Internet safety. The bill was referred to the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee and a hearing was conducted on Feb. 11. The bill was voted Do Pass on Feb. 20. The bill was placed on the House Informal Calendar on April 9, and its language was added to Senate Bill 68 (Henderson, R-Desloge), an elementary and secondary education bill, on April 24. Senate Bill 68 was truly agreed to and finally passed on May 13, but House Bill 116 language was removed from the bill by the Senate Bill 68 Conference Committee.

MO CASENET – DID NOT PASS
House Bill 143 (Falkner, R-St. Joseph) and Senate Bill 442 (Trent, R-Springfield) would have established provisions relating to the removal of certain court records from automated case management systems. HB 143 was read a second time but never referred to a committee while SB 442 was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee but did not receive a hearing.

ANTI-SLAPP – DID NOT PASS
House Bill 176 (Parker, R-Campbell) would have established provisions relating to electronic estate planning, and the bill included the “Uniform Public Expression Protection Act,” known as anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuits against public participation). Attempts were made in both the House and Senate to pass this legislation which has been attempted for several years. House Bill 176 was third read and passed by the House on April 2. A hearing was conducted by the Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on April 16 and reported Do Pass on May 7. House Bill 176 was referred to the Senate Fiscal Oversight Committee on May 13, where it died. Several other bills with anti-SLAPP provisions failed also, including House Bill 83 (Veit, R-Wardsville), a civil proceedings bill, placed on the House Informal Calendar on March 31 where it died; House Bill 615 (Coleman, R-Grain Valley), a judicial proceedings bill which died in the Senate after approval by the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 16; House Bill 1092 (Keathley, R-Chesterfield), which was referred to the House Judiciary Committee on March 13 and died; Senate Bill 352 (Trent, R-Springfield), a judicial proceedings bill that was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 17, but died; and Senate Bill 503 (Henderson, R-Desloge), which would have established the “Uniform Public Expression Protection Act,” was voted Do Pass on March 12 by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 27, but died.

PUBLISHING MATERIAL ON MINORS – DID NOT PASS
House Bill 236 (Gallick, R-Belton) would have required commercial websites with more than 33 1/3% of material that is deemed harmful to children, to verify that those accessing the site are 18 years of age or older. Additionally, the bill would have imposed a civil penalty for damages if a minor is harmed. House Bill 236 was perfected on the House floor earlier in the legislative session but was ultimately dropped from the calendar.

COMPLAINTS AGAINST CHILD CARE - DID NOT PASSHouse Bill 339 (Kelley, R-Lamar) would have prohibited the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education from releasing information to the public about the individuals who make complaints against licensed child care facilities. This bill was third read and passed out of the House by a vote of 157-0 as well as passed out of the Senate Seniors, Families, and Health Committee but did not progress any further.

NEW REQUIREMENTS TO BE A LEGAL NEWSPAPER – DID NOT PASSHouse Bill 353 (McGaugh, R-Carrollton) would have required newspapers to be published regularly and consecutively for one year (currently three years) to be eligible to publish public notices. The three-year requirement is thought to be the longest requirement for newspapers located in any state. The bill would have extended from 30 days to 90 days for restarting a legal newspaper that had previously been closed. The bill was referred to the House Local Government Committee, which conducted a hearing on March 12. The bill was voted Do Pass on March 27. The House Rules - Administrative Committee conducted a hearing on April 14 and voted the bill Do Pass, but the bill did not move further.

POSTING NOTICES ON SOS WEBSITE, INSTEAD OF IN NEWSPAPERS – DID NOT PASS
House Bill 377 (Casteel, R-High Ridge) would have modified the process by which public notices are required to be published in newspapers located in charter counties; those notices in charter counties instead would be posted on the Secretary of State’s website. The Secretary of State would be required to develop procedures for submission of the notices and create a specific page on the website that would contain all the notices in a searchable format. House Bill 377 was read a second time on Jan. 9, then was referred to the House Emerging Issues Committee on May 15. The bill did not receive a public hearing during the 2025 session.

CLOSING INFORMATION OF LARGE WATER USERS – DID NOT PASS
House Bill 545 (Diehl, R-Butler) and Senate Bill 157 (Henderson, R-Desloge) were bills that would have created provisions relating to the release of certain confidential information regarding major water users by the Missouri Geological Survey. A major water user was defined as a person or entity using 100,000 gallons of water daily. The bill would have allowed the Division to disclose in the aggregate for each county the number of major water users and the amount of water used, and could disclose information in response to a subpoena or court order. House Bill 545 was referred to the House Conservation and Natural Resources Committee on March 6, which conducted a hearing on March 24, but the bill died. Senate Bill 157 was referred to the Senate Agriculture, Food Production, and Outdoor Committee, received a hearing conducted on Feb. 13, was voted Do Pass on Feb. 20, but did not move further.

SELF-STORAGE UNIT AUCTION NOTICES – DID NOT PASS
Four bills were introduced to modify provisions relating to public notices in newspapers regarding the sale of property to satisfy liens on property stored in self-storage units. Instead of a classified ad in a local newspaper, the operator could advertise the auction on the internet or in other commercially reasonable ways. The ad would be considered commercially reasonable if at least three independent bidders attended the sale. This was the fifth year for such legislation to be introduced in our state. House Bill 757 (Mayhew, R-Crocker), a bill that primarily dealt with catalytic converters, was referred to the House Crime and Public Safety Committee on Jan. 22. A hearing was conducted on Feb. 19, and the bill was voted Do Pass on Feb. 26. House Bill 757 was third read and passed by the House on April 22 by a vote of 126-16, and reported to the Senate. The bill was referred to the Senate Emerging Issues and Professional Registration Committee on April 29, but did not receive a hearing, and it died. Two other bills received committee hearings: House Bill 668 (Diehl, R-Butler), heard by the House Economic Development Committee on April 1, and Senate Bill 513 (Justin Brown, R-Rolla), heard by the Senate Emerging Issues and Professional Registration Committee on March 25, voted Do Pass on April 1, but both bills did not move further. Senate Bill 761 (Hudson, R-Cape Fair) was referred to the Senate Emerging Issues and Professional Registration Committee on March 27, but did not receive a committee hearing.

INCOME TAX CUT – DID NOT PASS
House Bill 798 (Warwick, R-Bolivar) was a bill that originally set, beginning Jan. 1, 2026, a flat rate of 4.7 percent to be imposed on all taxable income of Missouri residents, or the top rate of tax in effect Jan. 1, 2026, whichever is less. Modifications to the flat rate would apply only to tax years that begin on or after a modification takes effect. The bill also removed all tax deduction triggers and all existing taxable income brackets. During the session, added to the bill were tax credits, a reduction of taxable corporate income from 4 percent to 3.75 percent, and allowing taxpayers to subtract 100 percent of all income reported as a capital gain for federal income taxes. The bill received a hearing on Jan. 22 by the House Special Committee on Tax Reform and was voted Do Pass on Feb. 4. The bill was passed by the House on March 12 by a vote of 100-53. The bill was heard by the Senate Economic and Workforce Development Committee on April 2, voted Do Pass on April 9, but did not move ahead in the Senate.

MODOT CONTRACTS - DID NOT PASS
House Bill 1369 (Hurlbert, R-Smithville) would have made all general specification documents issued by the Department of Transportation subject to the rulemaking requirements of Chapter 536, to ensure public notice, comment, and legislative oversight. This bill was passed out of the House Corrections and Public Institutions Committee but did not progress any further after being referred to the House Rules Administrative Committee.

EXPUNGEMENT – DID NOT PASS
Senate Bill 19 (Williams, D-University City), Senate Bill 423 (Washington, D-Kansas City) and House Bill 953 (Davidson, R-Republic) are similar bills relating to expungement. Senate Bill 19 and House Bill 953 included provisions relating to clean slate eligible offenses, credit bureau reporting, Missouri Expungement Fund and OSCA reports. Senate Bill 19 received a hearing early during the legislative session but was not brought up in executive session while House Bill 953 made its way through the House being Perfected but was not brought up again for another vote. Senate Bill 423 would have required closed criminal records be destroyed within six months of being closed. Additionally, arrest records would be closed and be inaccessible to the general public. It would have also repealed availability of closed records to certain agencies. Senate Bill 423 was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee but did not receive a hearing.

CRONKITE NEW VOICES ACT – DID NOT PASS
Senate Bill 258 (Washington, D-Kansas City) would have established the Cronkite New Voices Act for First Amendment rights for students in high schools and colleges/universities and to protect the freedom of the press in school-sponsored media. The bill was referred to the Senate Education Committee on Feb. 13, but did not receive a hearing and died.

COURT RECORDS – DID NOT PASS
Senate Bill 691 (May, D-St. Louis) would have modified the provision to include information concerning a witness in a criminal case that is confidential as otherwise provided by law or rule and any other information redacted for good cause by order of the court. The bill received a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee but was not brought up in executive session.