2024 Missouri Legislative Session

Leaders of a bipartisan Missouri House committee investigating Speaker Dean Plocher over allegations of misconduct said Monday that there is no timetable for when the inquiry will conclude.

A state law that has been around since the 1970s and was last amended in 2016 lists pregnancy as a barrier for finalizing divorce. HB 2402 would clarify that language to specify that pregnancy status shall not stop the court from finalizing dissolution of marriage or legal separation.

Currently, school bus drivers 70 and older are required to take the school bus portion of the driver’s license exam annually for renewal. The bill passed Thursday would raise that age to 77.

Backers of the Missourians for Constitutional Freedom initiative need roughly 171,000 signatures by early May to make it onto the ballot in either August or November.

Under the proposed legislation, no public funds would be given to any clinic that provides abortions or its affiliate. Similar legislation has stalled in the Senate.

Plocher’s hold on his speakership remains tenuous and his campaign for lieutenant governor is now considered a longshot. His top legislative staff are gone, either fired or resigned in the wake of the scandals. But the impact of the ethics probe is playing out in more subtle ways in the Missouri House.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced a plan Tuesday to add 200 Missouri National Guard members and 22 state highway patrol troopers to the 250 guardsmen already deployed to southern border by next month.

While Republicans shelved two bills that would further loosen Missouri's gun laws, Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, said she will introduce a proposed constitutional amendment allowing cities to write local gun laws that are stricter than state laws.

Senate Democrats filibustered against the bill from early Monday evening into Tuesday afternoon. They ultimately stood down after the passage of a bipartisan amendment that stripped the proposal down to its main goal, which they think voters will reject.

The Missouri House Conservation and Natural Resources Committee on Monday heard testimony on a bill that would transfer $300,000 to a radioactive waste investigations fund created six years ago.