WEEKLY LEGISLATIVE UPDATE 03/10/2025
The Mood at the Capitol
There is just one week left before legislative spring break. This session has seen several bills voted out of their original chamber early, but so far nothing has been sent to the Governor. The NAACP lobby day is tomorrow, and we are expecting to have lots of good contact with our elected officials. Here are the bills we will be talking about.
CROWN ACT - Support
This bill includes discrimination against a student for wearing protective hairstyles in the definition of racial discrimination in education settings.
- Students are being punished for wearing their hair naturally without harsh chemical treatments or a shaved head.
- Black girls are more frequently disciplined and treated with less respect in their schools when they wear their hair naturally.
- Black boys are more frequently disciplined and are often punished for “breaking dress code” when they wear their hair in braids or other styles that prevent breakage.
- Maintaining black hair in non-natural styles is expensive and dangerous.
- Black women with straight hair have to spend 3-4 hours at the salon every 3-4 weeks to maintain the style.
- At-home products tend to be harsher than salon products and are more likely to be applied in ways that cause damage.
- This bill doesn’t allow students to wear their hair “any way they want to.”
- It is narrowly tailored to cover hairstyles that are necessary to prevent damage to hair and are historically viewed as a racial characteristic.
HB284 - Rep. Raychel Proudie (D) - Prohibits certain discriminatory practices on the basis of race
Priority: High (NAACP Leader Lobby Day)
Last Action: 02/25/2025 H - Reported Do Pass - House-Rules-Legislative
SB38 - Sen. Barbara Washington (D) - Creates the "Missouri Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (Missouri CROWN) Act" to prohibit certain discriminatory practices as such practices relate to hairstyles in elementary and secondary educational institutions
Priority: High (NAACP Leader Lobby Day)
Last Action: 03/10/2025 H - Read Second Time
GOOD TIME CREDIT - Support
This bill reduces the total length of a prison sentence based on the offender’s behavior and participation in rehabilitation programs.
- These bills are modeled after President Donald Trump’s First Step Act of 2018 (FSA).
- The FSA provides that incarcerated people in the federal system get 54 days off their sentence for every year of “exemplary” behavior while incarcerated, and 10 days off for every 30 days of participation in qualifying vocational and rehabilitative programming (getting a GED, substance abuse, parenting classes, financial literacy, etc.).
- President Trump’s model is good for us as businesspeople, Christians, and Americans.
- The bills incentivize vocational and work training, education, and treatment through “good time” and “earned time” credit.
- Missouri has a law purporting to do this, but it’s not used or functional because it doesn’t lay out any standards. RSMo 558.041.
- These incentives not only promote good behavior; they also provide critical tools for our law enforcement community in corrections by giving them a safer, more orderly work environment.
- As Americans, this is the land of opportunity and second chances. We need to make sure these folks have what it takes to pull themselves up once they get out.
- Offering incentives for good behavior and program participation keep the prisons safer and more productive. It is bad business and a waste of financial resources to have people coming out worse than they went in.
- 90% of incarcerated people come home from prisons one day. It is incumbent on us to make sure that they leave state correctional facilities better than they came in. It’s crime prevention, it’s good for families, and it will save state resources long term.
- Correctional staff leave the prisons every day, and they bring the work home with them to their spouses, children, and communities. Violent, miserable prisons are bad for everyone. Safe, productive prisons are good for correctional staff, incarcerated people, and their respective families.
HB728 - Rep. Kimberly-Ann Collins (D) - Modifies provisions relating to good time credit
Priority: High (NAACP Leader Lobby Day)
Last Action: 03/05/2025 H - Public hearing completed - House-Crime and Public Safety
Priority: High (NAACP Leader Lobby Day)
Last Action: 03/10/2025 H - Scheduled for Committee Hearing - 03/12/2025, 8:00 AM - House-Commerce, HR 6
GET THE LEAD OUT - Support
This bill requires all schools to test for lead in their drinking water and take steps to remove it.
· There is no safe level of lead so reducing all sources is important.
· Schools must test for the presence of lead at all taps used for drinking and cooking.
o It’s important for parents and guardians to know about their school’s lead testing results, therefore schools must communicate results.
· Schools must implement recommended strategies to reduce lead in drinking water.
o Final decisions on specific interventions to reduce lead exposure in individual facilities are made by local school districts based on guidance from DHSS and DESE.
o Best management practices should continue until subsequent testing indicates lead has been reduced to below 5 ppb.
HB995 - Rep. Jeff Knight (R) - Modifies provisions governing lead in school drinking water
Priority: High (NAACP Leader Lobby Day)
Last Action: 03/04/2025 H - Reported Do Pass - House-Conservation and Natural Resources
DEATH PENALTY LOOPHOLE - Support
This bill requires a unanimous jury verdict before a sentence of death can be issued.
· Currently, when the jury cannot unanimously agree to one sentence or the other however (i.e. Hung Jury), the courts have said the judge can then make the decision and sentence the defendant to life without the possibility of parole OR death by utilizing a loophole in Missouri statute. This is true even if only 1 juror has voted to recommend the death penalty.
· This has resulted in giving the power of the jury to sentence an individual to death to a judge. It undermines our system of justice and is a gross misuse of our legal system.
· The proposed language would require the judge to sentence the defendant to life without the possibility of parole if the jury does not determine a sentence. The death sentence could still be applied when unanimously agreed upon by the jury. This simple change would place the power of sentencing back into the hands of the jury of our peers instead of one person.
Priority: Medium (NAACP Leader Lobby Day)
Last Action: 03/10/2025 S - Reported Do Pass - Senate-General Laws
LOCAL HOUSING ORDINANCE PREEMPTION - Oppose
This bill invalidates local ordinances that prohibit “Source of Income Discrimination Bans.” Source of Income discrimination bans provide protections for tenants against discrimination that could prevent them from renting a unit based on how they would pay rent, whether that is with Housing Choice Vouchers or income through alternative sources, such as child support or gig work.
· This bill is unnecessary.
o Tenants who have a voucher are subject to the same lease requirements and background and credit checks as other tenants.
o They are also subject to the same eviction requirements as tenants without subsidies, and tenants with vouchers have a housing case manager to ensure that the housing is safe and that the tenant is abiding by the terms of the lease.
· The bill is likely to create greater discrimination in housing.
o Historically, access to safe and affordable housing has not been equitable, especially for Black mothers, who have long been used as the face of subsidized housing.
o Source of Income discrimination also impacts tenants who are older, disabled, or female.
o Landlords often require a higher score than applicants who were not using subsidies or had employment income.
· Source of Income Discrimination bans are a solution for accessible and affordable housing not a problem.
o As we are facing both a historic one-year increase in homelessness of 18 percent, higher rates of vacancies in subsidized housing versus unsubsidized housing, and an ongoing shortage of housing that is driving up rent prices, making housing less accessible is not the solution.
o Denying local governments the freedom to make decisions based on what is best for their communities creates more barriers to addressing the housing crisis in Missouri.
o Less access to housing means more money needs to be spent on short-term solutions like emergency rental assistance and shelters. Both of these resources are necessary but face their own challenges as communities vote against shelters opening in their neighborhoods and funding for emergency assistance is limited. The long-term solution that makes sense is equitable access to housing for every tenant in Missouri.
Priority: Medium (NAACP Leader Lobby Day)
Last Action: 03/10/2025 S - Voted Do Pass - Senate-Local Government, Elections, and Pensions
DEI STATE SPENDING BAN - Oppose
This bill prevents any state spending on diversity, equity, and inclusion training or programs.
· Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs are still relevant and needed.
o Students in Missouri's public schools are reporting increased occurrences and severity of racially motivated bullying, hate crimes and violence.
o School administrators seem afraid to punish students using racial epithets, physically attacking Black and multi-racial students, and hanging symbols of hate in the school halls because of backlash from white parents and culture warrior legislators.
o Black employees continue to be paid less than their white peers for the same work and Black student enrollment and retention is decreasing due to lack of scholarships and other programs.
The Missouri NAACP fully denounces any attempt to remove or downplay anti-discrimination, anti-racism, Diversity Equity and Inclusion, or cultural sensitivity programs as evidence of racial bias on the part of the individual or organization that does so.
Priority: High (NAACP Leader Lobby Day)
Last Action: 03/10/2025 S - Voted Do Pass as substituted - Senate-Government Efficiency
BALLOT MEASURE SUMMARY STATEMENTS - Oppose
This bill eliminates a court's ability to revise deceptive language, instead giving the Secretary of State repeated chances to write fair and impartial language.
· Missouri law has long required that the summary language that voters see on an initiative referred to the voters not be misleading.
o Unfortunately, there is a long history of Missouri court rulings that found elected officials drafted biased or misleading ballot summaries - particularly in recent elections. This is why judicial checks on the legislative branch are so important.
o If a court finds that the summary language is deceptive, misleading or insufficient, the court should be able to redraft the language to meet legal specifications.
· The original SB22 would prevent courts from fixing legally flawed language.
o The sub would only allow a court to fix the illegal language after giving the SOS three additional tries to get it right. It would then require additional litigation — after each additional draft by the SOS — for the court to determine if *that* language is legally flawed. And if so, to send it back again, and again.
· This would impose additional delays to citizen advocates - who can’t start collecting signatures until the title and summary language are adjudicated.
o This would allow partisan actors to weaponize this process and open the door to the perpetuation of delay-inducing unfair language, blocking the courts from fixing the legal problem straight away.
· The result will be an ongoing merry go round between the SOS’s office and the courts - particularly where the citizen proposal relates to an issue disliked by the Secretary, leaving voters with no remedy. This is not what our system of justice is designed to do.
The separation of powers between the legislative, judicial and executive branches ensure necessary checks and balances, allowing courts to correct legally flawed language proposed by the legislature or Secretary of State (in the case of citizen initiatives). Courts should continue to retain their authority to edit the language of summary statements the Court concludes - based on evidence - to violate Missouri law.
Priority: High (NAACP Leader Lobby Day)
Last Action: 02/28/2025 H - Read Second Time
GUNS ON BUSSES – Oppose
This bill allows a person with a concealed carry permit to carry a weapon on any public transportation system.
· The bill puts transit workers and law enforcement in danger.
o When there are many people carry weapons, it is difficult for transit workers or law enforcement to tell the difference between a good citizen trying to protect themselves and a dangerous person who may cause a serious incident.
· The bill doesn’t take into account the different rules between jurisdictions and states.
o Some public transit is actually covered by Federal law. Additionally, some public transit systems regularly cross state lines.
· While the right to bear arms is in the Constitution, the right to use public transit is not.
o It is not an infringement of a right to regulate the time, place and manner in which it is exercised. It is a reasonable restriction to prohibit weapons on public transit. A person is not required to use the public transit systems, and there are many more options for transportation that do not put law enforcement, transit workers, and the general public in the same precarious situation as this bill would.
Priority: High (NAACP Leader Lobby Day)
Last Action: 02/25/2025 S - Reported Do Pass - Senate-Transportation, Infrastructure, and Public Safety
Tracking Lists
Criminal Justice
Health and the Environment
Opportunity, Race and Justice
Political Power
Education Innovation
*These lists are continually updated and improved. If you have questions, please contact Sharon Geuea Jones at sharon@jonesadvocacy.com.
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