Greater penalties for driving drunk, a trio of child care tax credits and preventing worship service restrictions in a pandemic are just some of the changes included in 23 bills the Missouri House of Representatives passed Thursday.
Many of the bills had strong bipartisan support. Two, including one that will ban most intoxicating hemp products, are on their way to Gov. Mike Kehoe's desk.
The remaining 21 all go to the Senate. With only six weeks remaining in the 2026 legislative session, it is unclear how many of them will make it across the finish line.
Drunken driving penalties
Drunken drivers in Missouri would face harsher penalties under legislation the House passed Thursday. Members voted 141-5 to pass the bill.
The legislation shifts several offenses of driving while intoxicated one felony class higher, which carries increased punishment.
They include injuring, severely injuring and killing someone while driving drunk.
"Driving while impaired is a choice, and so often people get behind the wheel that shouldn't be there, and when that happens, tragedy can happen," said Rep. Dave Griffith, R-Jefferson City, the bill's sponsor.
Additionally, someone convicted of killing someone while driving intoxicated would have to serve five years in prison before being eligible for probation or parole.
If someone was found guilty of killing more than one person while driving intoxicated, they would have to serve 10 years before being parole or probation eligible. That provision would also apply to people who killed one person while driving drunk, but had a blood alcohol content of 0.15 or higher.
The bill also would require someone who committed an intoxication-related traffic offense with a blood alcohol content of 0.15 or more to have an ignition interlock device in their car in order to have restricted driving privileges restored.
"One thing that I keep hearing over and over again from my constituents is how unsafe our roads are, how fast people are going, how many DUIs, how many DUI-related accidents that we're having. And I think that when you take these two provisions, you put them together and I think we're going to see some real great results," Rep. Mark Sharp, D-Kansas City, said.
The legislation is HB 1740
Child care tax credits
The House passed a trio of tax credits aimed at increasing child care availability in the state.
Members voted 97-44 to pass the tax credits. They now go to the Senate, where they have died in years past.
One allows for a tax credit for contributions to a child care provider in an amount of 75% of the contribution. The tax credit issued must be between $100 and $200,000 per tax year.
"This is the child care legislation that will create affordable, reliable, quality and safe child care for working families in our state. It is one of the top issues that I hear from my constituents and from the business community," said Rep. Brenda Shields, R-St. Joseph, the bill's sponsor.
The other two tax credits are more centered on businesses, including child care facilities.
Child care providers with three or more employees would be able to claim a tax credit in an amount equal to the provider's eligible employer withholding tax. They also would be able to claim a tax credit of an amount up to 30% of the provider's capital expenditures.
That credit must be between $1,000 and $200,000 per child care provider per tax year.
Finally, another would allow taxpayers with two or more employees to claim a tax credit in an amount equal to 30% of the qualified child care expenditures paid or incurred with respect to a child care facility. The maximum of that credit cannot exceed $200,000 per taxpayer per tax year.
While supporters of the bill stressed the need for greater child care access in Missouri, some detractors, like Rep. John Martin, R-Columbia, worried about how much it will cost the state.
"I see this as Band-Aid at best. Government has a history of distorting the market, raising costs, as seen in many other areas of our society," Martin said.
In a press release after the vote, the Missouri Chamber of Commerce applauded the passage of the bill, saying: "Missouri's child care network is critical infrastructure and we applaud Rep. Shields for sponsoring the bill. It's time for Missouri to become a national leader in addressing this crisis."
The legislation is HB 2409
Worship during a pandemic
Representatives spent the most time on Thursday debating legislation that would allow places of worship to stay open in the case of another pandemic.
The legislation sponsored by Rep. Sean Pouche, R-Kansas City, would prevent the state and municipalities from restricting religious services if another dangerous communicable disease, such as COVID-19, begins to spread.
"We just ask that the churches are the same as the box stores or grocery stores," Pouche said.
The legislation does allow evacuation orders for some cases, including terrorist attacks and natural disasters.
Rep. Renee Reuter, R-Imperial, said isolating Missourians from their faith communities during the pandemic harmed their mental health.
"I think that we would have more people here today if we would have kept our churches open," Reuter said.
But several Democrats who professed their faith spoke against the legislation with concerns for public health.
"You don't have to be in a physical location, whether there is a virus going on outside or not, to praise and worship God," said Rep. LaKeySha Bosley, D-St. Louis.
HB 2760 still needs Senate approval.
Anti-spoofing efforts
Under another bill passed, scammers could soon struggle to get through to Missourians over the phone.
The House voted 128-17 on legislation requiring cellphone service providers to block some calls – including from certain numbers outside the U.S. and numbers that are not registered.
"You'll hear me talk a lot in this chamber about how legislation lags behind technology," said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Mike Costlow, R-Dardenne Prairie. "This is another instance where technology has moved forward and we need to update the statute."
Cellphone providers would be required to implement technology to properly authenticate caller ID, with steep penalties for failure to comply – $25,000 for a first offense.
The bill also creates the crime of spoofing, which occurs when callers falsely identify themselves with the intent to deceive someone.
If approved by the Senate, HB 2658 would also remove a requirement that Missourians renew their place on the no-call list each year.
'Magic mushrooms'
The House approved legislation 137-11 that would decriminalize psilocybin – a psychedelic compound found in many mushrooms – for veterans and first responders with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression or a substance use disorder.
In order to use psilocybin, commonly known as "magic mushrooms," people who qualify would need to sign up for a study and could only consume the substance in the presence of a facilitator.
Although he was initially skeptical, Rep. Richard West, R-Wentzville, the bill's sponsor, said psilocybin has shown promise in treating such disorders.
The legislation also commissions research on igobaine, another psychoactive compound taken from a West African shrub that some say is also helpful in treating PTSD.
HB 1717 now goes to the Senate.
Adult education fails
Despite a spate of legislation succeeding Thursday, the House saw its first unsuccessful bill of the session.
Rep. Josh Hurlbert, R-Smithville, sponsored legislation that would have expanded a program allowing adult Missourians who dropped out of high school to finish school virtually.
"This is funding that'll help these, largely, teen moms that dropped out of high school be able to get their high school diploma," Hurlbert said. "This is a hand-up, not a handout."
Much of the opposition was over a provision that would have taken up to $4 million from the state's K-12 education budget – which opponents say is already underfunded.
"Please keep the pre-K-12 money where it belongs," said Rep. Kathy Steinhoff, D-Columbia. "We are already underfunding them."
Steinhoff said the bill wasn't necessary because the state has existing options for adults to finish high school, including ones that are cheaper and use federal funding.
HB 3239 failed on a 55 to 95 vote.
Wide-reaching health care legislation
The House also passed changes to health care in Missouri.
"House Bill 2372 is about getting government out of the way and letting our health care providers do what they do best: taking care of patients across the state of Missouri," said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Tara Peters, R-Rolla.
One provision of the legislation adds doula services to Medicaid coverage, including support sessions before and during birth and postpartum.
"This will assist women who are going through one of the proudest moments, potentially, of their lives," Bosley said. "This is going to be an amazing transformation in reducing maternal mortality within our state."
The bill permits students and school nurses to seek permission to administer epinephrine, including EpiPens, to treat allergic reactions.
It allows patients to start their health care via telehealth, where previously a physical evaluation was required in all cases.
Some of the other provisions of the bill include allowing the sale of ivermectin over the counter, prohibiting AI from being advertised as able to provide therapy and requiring hospitals to display signs condemning violence against health care professionals.
The legislation now heads to the Senate.
Other health care bills
The House also passed two other health care-related bills.
One, HB 1855, adds the tick bite-caused alpha-gal syndrome to the list of diseases that must be reported to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
Any alpha-gal syndrome case report must be submitted to the department within seven days of receiving a positive laboratory confirmation.
The other, HB 3113, requires all public buildings to maintain a supply of naloxone, also known as Narcan, in the hopes of preventing opioid overdoses.
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