Missouri Legislature 2025
Click on the underscored bill number to see the details and status. Contact your legislator or the bill sponsor to register your opposition or support. There are other bills of interest, but these are some that have been referred to committees. Full texts are available from the links.
SB594 (HB34 Billington) Jamie Burger [R] Ten Commandments. Requires posting of the Ten Commandments in every public or charter school classroom in Missouri. Hearing held 3/25, S Education Committee. Opposition to this bill, featuring comments by our Board member Rev. Bart Tichenor and other opposition speakers that were organized by Bart and Board member Rev. Brian Kaylor was featured on the front-page story in the March 26 issue of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I doubt that this bill will survive.
SB681 Jill Carter [R] Pregnancy Center Diversion. Allows taxpayers to satisfy 100% of their income tax obligation up to $50K per year by donations to “pregnancy resource centers”, organizations that oppose abortion.
HB75 (SB739 Schnelting) Cathy Loy [R] The “Missouri Religious Freedom Protection Act”. Exempts religious meetings from closure due to pandemics, for example. Voted “Do Pass” 10-4 in the HCS Committee. Hearing held 3/4. Sent to General Laws Committee.
HJR54 Melanie Stinnett [R] Negates the constitutional right to abortion, except for rape or incest, and has 12-week limit. Referred to House Children and Families Committee.
SJR5 Rick Brattin [R] This is a proposed constitutional amendment that would supersede the “right to abortion” amendment that was passed in 2024. Referred to Senate Family, Seniors, and Health Committee.
HB195 Brian Seitz [R] and HB119 Holly Jones [R] “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act”. Referred to House Rules – Legislative Committee. Reported “Do Pass”, Vote 6-3
SB119 Mike Moon [R] Outlaws “chemical abortion” by making possession of relevant chemicals illegal and their use a felony. Referred Family, Seniors, and Health Committee. No action since 1/23.
SB118 Mike Moon [R] and SB49 Rusty Black [R] Authorizes “volunteer” chaplains in public schools. We testified against these bills in the Senate Education Committee hearing. Bill Combined w/(SCS SBs 49 & 118). Moribund lately.
SB195 Rick Brattin [R] Authorizes 100% deduction for expenses in educating a student in a private school or at home. SCS Voted Do Pass (w/ SCS/SBs 195 & 53) Education Committee. Substantial impact on the state budget is noted.
SJR8 Mike Moon [R] Confers personhood on fetuses, from conception. This would become a constitutional amendment. Referred to Families, Seniors, and Health Committee. Voted “Do Pass” 3/5
SB77 Adam Schnelting [R] The title of this bill implies that it is about “concealed carry” of firearms on public transit, but the bill text discloses that it makes the default for firearms in ‘houses of worship” “yes, you can” rather than “no, you can’t”. It is very deceptive and sneaky.
Abortion The voter-approved constitutional amendment that passed in November is the target for about a dozen Republican bills that would repeal it; three of them are linked above. No such bill has gotten through the House so far, and only one has gotten through a Senate Committee. Since the vote in November was a constitutional amendment, another state-wide vote would be required to repeal it.
More to come.
Contacts for Missouri legislators can be found at Missouri.gov.
Inside the movement to redirect billions of taxpayer dollars to private religious schools.
Our Annual Picnic
held September 29 featured our guest, Pulitzer Prize-winning Tony Messenger, columnist of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the popular singer, Laka, with her band! We had over 60 people in attendance, and everybody had a wonderful time.
Our Board Member (also AU national treasurer), Brian Kaylor, is coauthor with Beau Underwood of a new book about religious freedom in America. The full title is “Baptizing America: How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism”. It provides the AU perspective on the alarming growth of Christian Nationalism. Its thesis is that Christian Nationalism is not just a recent aberrant creation of the right wing, but a consequence of years and decades of encroachment on religious freedom by organizations that are often viewed as benign, the “apple pie” denominations such as the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and others. The narrative is very up-to-date, but also provides the history of the foundational events that have led to our current uncomfortable situation. The book is published by Chalice Press and is available everywhere.
