The Missouri Senate passed bills Thursday that would remove expiration dates from restrictions on transgender youth, ban cellphone use in school and reduce the power of the courts to change the summary language on ballot items.
The bills will now proceed to the House of Representatives.
Transgender health care and athletics
The Missouri legislature passed bans on transgender youth accessing gender-affirming health care and participating in sports according to their gender identity into law in 2023. Currently, those laws are set to expire in 2027 as a result of a compromise with Senate Democrats.
Senate Bill 10 would remove the expiration dates from those laws and more than 20 others.
One of the most important programs included in SB10 is the Federal Reimbursement Allowance, which funds a large portion of Missouri’s Medicaid program. The FRA will expire in 2029 unless renewed.
Republican critics of SB10 said that while they don’t like all the programs made permanent by the bill, they felt it was worth it to remove the expiration dates from the transgender restrictions.
“I think those two alone, saving life, saving liberty, saving the pursuit of happiness for many of these kids that are impacted by this, it outweighs the other provisions,” Sen. Nick Schroer, R-St. Charles, said before the bill’s passage.
The Senate approved the bill 22-12, largely along party lines.
A different bill that would also make the bans permanent drew hours of testimony in opposition during a public hearing earlier in the session, going late into the night.
During a filibuster on SB10 last week, Sen. Stephen Webber, D-Boone County, said the concerns of transgender Missourians were being silenced.
“I know that there are people who, if they could, would come on this floor and scream to have their struggles, to have their story known,” Webber said. “Losing is bad, nobody likes to lose. But losing when no one can hear you is worse.”
A lawsuit on behalf of transgender youth and their families attempting to overturn the health care ban concluded late last year when a judge upheld the law.
Cellphone ban
Senate Bill 68 would require school districts to ban cellphone use during the school day.
The ban would be “bell to bell,” meaning phone use would be prohibited from the start to the end of the school day, including during lunch and passing periods. The bill outlines some exceptions, such as for emergencies or if a teacher allows phones for educational uses.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Mike Henderson, R-St. Francois, said cellphones are a major issue in schools that needs to be addressed.
“Schools that have a bell-to-bell policy and that prohibits devices have seen fewer distractions, a reduction in cyberbullying and social media-related conflict, and increase in student engagement and better teaching morale,” Henderson said.
The bill received bipartisan support, passing the Senate by a vote of 29-5.
SB10 would also require schools to report violent incidents and threats to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Ballot item summaries
Senate Bill 22 would limit the power of the courts to rewrite ballot measure summary statements.
SB22 comes on the heels of a protracted series of legal challenges regarding the summary language for Amendment 3, which voters approved last year, overturning Missouri’s total abortion ban. In those lawsuits, judges ruled that summary language provided by Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft was unfair and mischaracterized the amendment.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Cass County, said he didn’t feel the court should have the power to rewrite ballot summaries.
“The original intent of this was to take what I don’t believe to be the court’s authority and put it into the correct bucket of authority,” Brattin said while introducing the bill for debate. “And that would be either the legislature or the secretary of state, in terms of rewriting.”
When introduced, the bill would have unilaterally prohibited the courts from editing or rewriting summary language.
The version passed by the Senate would instead give the secretary of state’s office three opportunities to rewrite a summary if the ballot language is challenged, with the courts retaining the right to reject the language as unfair.
The bill passed 24-10.
Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, D-Kansas City, expressed concern during the debate that the process laid out in the legislation would be overly time-consuming, given that the procedure to put a measure on the ballot is already complex.
The River City Journalism Fund supports St. Louis Public Radio's Statehouse internship. Evy Lewis is the 2025 reporting intern. See rcjf.org for more information about the fund, which seeks to advance journalism in St. Louis.
