Senate passes bill banning antisemitism, other hate speech

By Hannah McDonough, Missouri News Network
JEFFERSON CITY — The Senate passed a bill Wednesday prohibiting antisemitism in schools after expanding the bill language to cover all hate speech.
Sen. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, added an amendment that broadened the original scope of the bill. The amendment states, “the General Assembly finds that all persons are equal before the law and are entitled to equal rights.”
The amendment cites the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, as well as Article I, Section 2 of the Missouri Constitution, as offering equal rights to everybody.
While the bill had unanimous support in the Senate, there were varying opinions about why the bill is necessary.
Sen. Stephen Webber, D-Columbia, gave an impassioned speech regarding a Senate bill from 2017 that he said undermined the strength of the protections outlined under the Missouri Human Rights Act.
“There was language in law that covered everyone, and this legislature weakened it,” Webber said.
Sen. Brian Williams, D-University City, shared those sentiments, adding that intimidation based on race or religion should not be acceptable in any cases. He used the example of Ritenour School District in St. Louis County, which has recently seen Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the area.
“If an atmosphere of fear and intimidation is unacceptable for one group of students, why is it acceptable for another?” Williams said.
However, Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, strongly disagreed with Webber. He said that antisemitism in the U.S. has nothing to do with previous legislation, but instead with the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the social response.
“I think most Americans had thought what we would see was a unifying coming together, you know, praying and unity supporting a community that had just been attacked,” Brattin said. “But that’s not what we saw. We saw rhetoric, we saw hate, we saw vitriol.”
House Bill 2061, initially introduced in the House by Rep. George Hruza, R-St. Louis, focused more specifically on antisemitism in light of the Oct. 7 attack.
The House version of the bill outlines how antisemitism in schools will be handled, and that it should be treated the same as discrimination based on race. The bill was also introduced last year but did not get passed.
Sen. Curtis Trent, R-Springfield, brought the bill to the Senate floor with some modifications. The Senate substitute for the bill allows each school to come up with policies regarding antisemitism that are best for each institution. It also reevaluates the definition of antisemitism mentioned in the House bill.
“I think it’s very important that Missouri schools be open to all individuals, and particular here because of the nature of the debate that’s going on in the country, the nature of global politics being what they are, this has become a very acute problem,” Trent said.
Additionally, Sen. Doug Beck, D-Affton, introduced an amendment to include charter schools in addition to public schools in the bill text. The amendment was adopted.
The revised bill will go back to the House for approval of the changes.