House Bill 2273 (132 pages) is about preventing grooming children for sex, anti-trafficking efforts and sex crimes against minors. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Ed Lewis. The senate handler was Senator Jill Carter. The bill passed and was sent to Governor Kehoe. HB 2273 is well intentioned but has some significant red flags and potential unintended consequences. More on this next week.

House Bill 1908 (5 pages) prohibits pregnancy status from preventing the court from entering a judgment of dissolution of marriage or legal separation. The bill was sponsored by Representative Cecelie Williams. The bill passed and was sent to Governor Kehoe.

Senate Bill SB 888 (89 pages) modifies provisions relating to the criminal and juvenile justice systems. The bill was sponsored by Senator Nick Schroer. SB888 changes the classifications of and punishments for juvenile offenders. The bill requires individuals convicted of dangerous felonies to now serve at least 85 percent of their sentence before becoming eligible for parole. The bill allows older juveniles who commit crimes to be tried as adults and will loosen fingerprinting privacy for minors.

SB 888 also allows counties to impose a 1 percent sales tax to allow for the construction of additional juvenile detention centers. This is a very large bill with major changes including numerous felony convictions. Some lawmakers have raised concerns that they were not able to read the final version of the bill before voting on it. The bill passed and was sent to Governor Kehoe.

The Supplemental Budget bill, HB2014 (38 pages), passed with 3 billion dollars of new spending for the Missouri state government. This brings the state budget up to approximately 54 billion dollars — a 6 percent increase over last year. It was sponsored by Rep. Dirk Deaton and the Senate handler was Rusty Black. Both legislators are the chair of their respective budget committees. Governor Kehoe signed the 3 billion dollars of additional spending on March 11, 2026. Republicans hold a super majority in Missouri. With this plan, they need to revise the Republican party platform. Low taxes and small government are clearly not terms they understand.

The 6 percent increase in additional spending calls into question the sincerity of the Governor’s plan to eliminate the income tax and reduce spending.

The highly controversial bill to eliminate personal income tax passed the Missouri House on March 4, 2026 and was sent to the Senate for debate. It is HJR174 and is sponsored by the Missouri Speaker of the House, Jon Patterson. It’s a 4 page ballot measure that Missouri voters will have to vote on, if the Senate approves the bill. Eliminating income tax is a worthy goal. Replacing it with a system that will cause higher taxes and give lawmakers expanded power to tax goods and services is not a win for Missouri citizens. Giving lawmakers power to create new taxes right after they passed a 6 percent increase in state spending would be irresponsible.

Missouri Independent reports; At a news conference Thursday March 12, House Speaker Jon Patterson, a Lee’s Summit Republican, said that while the measure would allow a sales tax on gas, it is politically off-limits. “I can’t think of anything less popular back home than imposing another tax on gas, especially with the way gas prices are going now,” Patterson said, “I just cannot see that happening.”

Missouri voters repeatedly voted down increases in the gas tax, then in 2021, the Missouri legislature rebuked the will of the voters and added a 12.5 cent per gallon gasoline tax.

It’s worthy to note that eliminating the Missouri income tax does not require a vote of the people. This has to go on the ballot for you as a Missouri voter, to give the legislators the power to levy NEW taxes in exchange for reducing or maybe someday maybe eliminating the income tax. But for now, they are asking for your trust while you get new taxes and all current taxes continue.

More on this topic in a future article as the Missouri Senate prepares to debate the details of taking less money out of one pocket while taking more money out of your other pockets. Please contact your state senator and ask them to revise or kill HJR174.

Missouri legislators are on spring break until March 23.

Legislative season continues, but this is also the very important wind up for election season. The primary elections will be in August, but who is on the ballot, is determined right now. The filing period for the Missouri primary election is open until March 31, 2026.

More information on bills at house.mo.gov and senate.mo.gov