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MissouriHB2252025 Regular SessionHouseWALLET

Allows the chief law enforcement executive in any jurisdiction to request assistance from another jurisdiction, including a jurisdiction outside the state of Missouri

Sponsored By: Jeff Myers (Republican)

Signed by Governor

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

26 provisions identified: 10 benefits, 7 costs, 9 mixed.

More compensation for fallen officers’ survivors

Eligible survivors can receive $100,000 in line-of-duty compensation, up from $25,000, for deaths on or after June 19, 2009. Payments depend on state appropriations. Coverage includes duty-related illnesses when death is the natural and probable result and occurs within 300 weeks after illness was contracted. Deaths resulting from the officer’s willful misconduct or intoxication are excluded. Survivors have two years after death to file with the Division of Workers’ Compensation, instead of one. The law also removes the program’s automatic expiration dates.

St. Louis deputies get minimum pay

Sheriff’s deputies in the City of St. Louis must receive at least $50,000 in annual compensation. Deputies paid below that floor receive the increase needed to reach it.

Tuition help for public safety families

Eligible public-safety workers and legal dependents can get tuition awards through a dedicated state fund, subject to appropriations. Dependents of workers with at least 10 years of service can receive up to 100% of resident tuition left after federal grants and state scholarships and grants. Private-school awards cannot exceed Missouri’s highest combined public-school resident tuition and mandatory fees. Applicants must verify eligibility, seek federal and state aid first, and gain admission to an eligible program with open seats. Dependents cannot already hold a bachelor’s degree; awards last up to five consecutive years or 120 credit hours, whichever comes first. Applications are due December 15, with notices by March 1. When money runs short, workers come before dependents, with further priority based on high-crime jurisdictions and service years; ties receive proportional funding. The fund accepts appropriations and gifts, keeps unused money and investment earnings, and pays only these awards.

Tuition recipients face Missouri residency repayment

Legal dependents receiving tuition awards must meet a five-year Missouri residency requirement and submit state income tax returns annually as proof. The period begins with the first award application and receipt, subject to the law’s degree-completion or department-notice milestones. Leaving Missouri or failing to submit required returns converts the award into a loan serviced by MOHELA. Interest is one percentage point above the prevailing U.S. prime rate and accrues from departure until repayment. Total and permanent disability or death cancels repayment and the related residency and filing duties.

Officer spouses get faster work licenses

Qualifying spouses of law enforcement officers gain access to Missouri’s expedited occupational licensing process. Licensing bodies must issue a license within 30 days and waive exam, education, and experience requirements for eligible applicants. Applicants need a current matching occupation and practice-level license held elsewhere for at least one year, plus required good standing, fees, bonds, and insurance. Coverage includes qualifying nonresident spouses whose partners accepted Missouri law enforcement employment. Local-government licenses, electrical contractors, and another occupation specified by law are excluded; the license is Missouri-only and does not establish interstate compact eligibility.

Penalties for approaching and obstructing responders

Knowingly and willfully approaching within 20 feet of a first responder after a verbal warning can be a crime. The responder must be lawfully doing a legal duty, and the person must know or reasonably recognize the responder. The person must intend to interfere, threaten physical harm, or direct conduct at the responder that serves no legitimate purpose. A first offense is a class B misdemeanor; later offenses are class A misdemeanors. The law preserves observing, recording, and First Amendment rights.

Covered officers face mandatory service limits

Members of covered city police reserve forces cannot serve after the last day of the month they turn 65. Separately, covered law enforcement officers must leave service at the later of age 65 or 35 years of creditable service. Separation occurs on the last day of the month that later threshold is reached. These limits apply only to the forces and officers covered by the cited statutory systems, not every Missouri officer. The provisions do not state the retirement payments that follow.

District sales taxes can rise

Ambulance and fire districts can seek voter approval for sales taxes up to 1%, raising the former 0.5% ceiling and removing listed county exclusions. Revenue must fund the purposes voters approve. After the first collection year, districts must reduce property-tax revenue by 50% of the prior year’s sales-tax receipts. A petition signed by 20% of registered district voters who voted in the last governor’s election forces a repeal vote. The specified repeal ballot removes up to 0.5% sales tax and restores the earlier property-tax levy; majority approval takes effect December 31 that year.

Court users lose three dollar surcharge

The law removes a $3 surcharge supporting the Sheriffs’ Retirement Fund from covered civil and criminal cases. Covered cases include specified ordinance, traffic, criminal-law, and infraction cases, with statutory exceptions. People otherwise responsible for the surcharge save $3 per covered case.

Unpaid emergency helpers gain lawsuit protection

People giving unpaid care or assistance at an emergency or accident scene are protected from civil damages for that help. Protection does not cover gross negligence or willful or wanton acts or failures to act.

Emergency medical workers avoid compact fees

Missouri’s health department cannot create or raise emergency medical personnel license fees to pay the interstate licensing compact’s annual assessment. The restriction does not block fee changes for other purposes.

County pension contributions get tax treatment

Counties pay covered retirement-system member contributions from the same source as wages and deduct an equal amount from members’ pay. Contributions count as employer contributions for federal gross-income purposes. They do not lower the compensation used to calculate retirement benefits. Members cannot take the contribution money as cash instead.

Grants support solving more violent crimes

Missouri creates a violent-crime clearance grant program offering agencies money or technical help, subject to state appropriations. Support can cover investigators, forensics, training, technology, victim services, wellness, and community partnerships. Priority goes to agencies consistently reporting low clearance rates, showing community-government collaboration, or using measurable evaluation plans. Assistance requires a contract, and recipients must report annually on activities and performance.

Police can request help across borders

Law enforcement chiefs or their designees can request help from other U.S. jurisdictions, including outside Missouri. Officers arresting someone outside their jurisdiction must transfer that person to the first available officer commissioned there. The arresting officer must help prepare probable-cause affidavits. Assisting officers keep their employment status and specified legal immunities, while out-of-state officers follow Missouri’s applicable arrest procedures. Existing mutual-aid authorities and agreements remain available.

Higher court service fees support deputies

Covered service of court papers carries an extra $20 charge in first-, second-, and fourth-class counties and charter counties. The extra charge is $15 in third-class counties. This covers summonses, writs, subpoenas, and other covered court orders. The money supports deputy salary supplements and, where applicable, sheriffs’ retirement. Counties without a participating sheriff send the full amount to deputy salary supplements.

Narrower funding limit for retired sheriffs’ premiums

The law changes the annual funding limit for retired sheriffs’ medical insurance premium help. The limit now counts expected retirement system money under section 57.952, but no longer includes money under section 57.955. Payments remain optional, depend on available funds, and cannot exceed $450 per retired member each month. No payment is guaranteed.

Districts can recover missed levy revenue

Ambulance and fire districts can make a one-time property-tax levy correction to recover revenue owed from the prior year. First, the district must adopt the tax-rate ceiling otherwise allowed by Missouri law. The correction is limited to revenue the district was entitled to receive.

State ambulance services face provider tax

State-owned ground ambulance services accepting payment in Missouri are covered by the ambulance service reimbursement allowance tax. The law removes their prior exception, including for services operated by state-owned entities. The provision gives no tax rate or direct household charge.

St. Louis firefighters can arrange towing

Firefighters in a city outside any county can arrange accident-scene towing through a tow list or management company. They can assess whether a requested company can arrive reasonably soon or a vehicle poses an immediate traffic hazard. Out-of-state companies require a declared state or federal emergency or a request from the driver, owner, or motor club. Uncalled towing companies can remove vehicles only while giving emergency public-safety aid or during a declared state of emergency.

More towns can tax public safety

Newly eligible Missouri cities and villages can ask voters to approve a public-safety sales tax capped at 0.5%. Eligibility depends on the law’s population and location criteria. Shoppers pay the approved tax, and revenue must support police, fire, or emergency medical pay, benefits, equipment, or facilities. After majority approval, collection starts on the first day of the second calendar quarter following notice to the revenue director. A failed proposal cannot return sooner than 12 months after the prior proposal.

Police and rangers gain driving authority

Police vehicles can use specified emergency-driving privileges without lights or sirens for speeding enforcement on qualifying maintained federal or state highways. The highway’s speed limit must be set by state statute. Signal-free operation also covers suspected crimes in progress when signals risk evidence destruction or escape, and specified vehicle or passenger surveillance. County and municipal park ranger vehicles now count as emergency vehicles, with related driving privileges subject to statutory conditions. Other drivers must yield to qualifying ranger emergency vehicles.

Ambulance leaders face training and audits

Each licensed ambulance service must name an administrator responsible for operations and staffing, with 40 hours of basic training and two hours annually. Administrators serving on August 28, 2025, had until January 1, 2026, to show compliance. District board members need three continuing-education hours each term and lose office for missing applicable training by their election or appointment anniversary. Training must come from a statewide ambulance-district association or have state advisory council approval; licensing rules must address administrator qualifications and regional advisory participation. Districts also need a certified public accountant’s audit at least every three years, freely available online.

Backup ambulance care brings repayment rights

When an ambulance provider cannot deliver adequate service, Missouri must immediately work with nearby providers to arrange continued service. This can include long-term coverage arrangements. A provider filling in during another provider’s license suspension can seek reasonable payment from the suspended provider. Payment can cover calls, standby time, responses, operating costs, and costs and reasonable attorney fees to enforce payment.

Specialty hospitals get forensic exam exemption

Qualifying specialty hospitals are exempt from specified sexual-offense forensic exam and statewide telehealth network requirements. They must be licensed and designated as something other than a general acute care hospital. To qualify, they must have a policy transferring victims to an appropriate hospital with an emergency department.

Stronger oversight of troubled ambulance services

Missouri can deny, suspend, or refuse to renew ambulance licenses for financial, staffing, operating, qualification, or training problems. Grounds include excessive mutual aid, including more than 10% of monthly runs in the service area, subject to staffing standards and exceptions. License-related criminal liability or Medicare or MO HealthNet ineligibility of the holder or specified leaders also permits action. An unqualified administrator or at least three untrained district board members can trigger action. For insolvency or insufficient operations, the state can require a corrective plan within 15 days and implementation within 30 days.

Sheriff funding shifts county money

The annual cap on covered fees kept in the sheriff’s county fund rises from $50,000 to $75,000; excess goes to county general revenue. Beginning January 1, 2026, the state diverts $1.75 per prisoner-day from jail reimbursements in counties with participating sheriffs to sheriff pensions. The diversion falls to $1 when the retirement fund meets both tests: at least 90% funding and assets above actuarial need. These transfers support pensions but reduce jail reimbursements retained by counties. The law also removes the rule requiring proportional benefit payments during a retirement-fund shortfall, without stating a replacement allocation rule.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

  • Jeff Myers

    Republican • House

Cosponsors

  • Bill Irwin

    Republican • House

  • George Hruza

    Republican • House

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 450 • No: 132

House vote • 5/8/2025

Truly Agreed To and Finally Passed

Yes: 88 • No: 26 • Other: 27

House vote • 5/8/2025

House Adopts - SS as amended

Yes: 89 • No: 32 • Other: 20

House vote • 5/8/2025

Emergency Clause Defeated on Truly Agreed to Bill

Yes: 88 • No: 34 • Other: 18

House vote • 5/8/2025

Reported Do Pass

Yes: 8 • No: 0

Senate vote • 5/7/2025

Emergency Clause Adopted

Yes: 32 • No: 2

House vote • 5/7/2025

Third Read and Passed with Amendments

Yes: 30 • No: 2

House vote • 3/6/2025

Third Read and Passed

Yes: 96 • No: 29 • Other: 33

House vote • 2/27/2025

Reported Do Pass

Yes: 7 • No: 3

House vote • 1/30/2025

Reported Do Pass

Yes: 12 • No: 4 • Other: 2

Actions Timeline

  1. Delivered to Secretary of State (G)

    7/14/2025House

  2. Approved by Governor (G)

    7/14/2025House

  3. Delivered to Governor

    5/30/2025House

  4. Signed by President Pro Tem

    5/30/2025Senate

  5. Constitutional Objection Filed

    5/30/2025Senate

  6. Signed by House Speaker

    5/29/2025House

  7. House Message

    5/8/2025House

  8. Emergency Clause Defeated on Truly Agreed to Bill - AYES: 88 NOES: 34 PRESENT: 18

    5/8/2025House

  9. Truly Agreed To and Finally Passed - AYES: 88 NOES: 26 PRESENT: 27

    5/8/2025House

  10. House Adopts - SS as amended AYES: 89 NOES: 32 PRESENT: 20

    5/8/2025House

  11. Taken Up

    5/8/2025House

  12. Reported Do Pass - AYES: 8 NOES: 0 PRESENT: 0

    5/8/2025House

  13. Voted Do Pass

    5/8/2025House

  14. Executive Session Completed

    5/8/2025House

  15. Referred: Fiscal Review

    5/7/2025House

  16. Reported to the House with... - SS SCS as amended

    5/7/2025House

  17. Emergency Clause Adopted - AYES: 32 NOES: 2 PRESENT: 0

    5/7/2025Senate

  18. Third Read and Passed with Amendments - AYES: 30 NOES: 2 PRESENT: 0

    5/7/2025House

  19. Taken Up

    5/7/2025Senate

  20. Reported Do Pass

    5/7/2025Senate

  21. Voted Do Pass

    5/7/2025Senate

  22. Executive Session Held

    5/7/2025Senate

  23. Referred: Fiscal Oversight

    5/6/2025Senate

  24. SS Adopted - SA 3, SA 4, SA 5, SA 6, SA 7 adopted

    5/6/2025Senate

  25. SS Offered

    5/6/2025Senate

Bill Text

  • Truly Agreed

    5/8/2025

    PDF

  • Perfected

    3/4/2025

    PDF

  • Committee Substitute

    1/30/2025

    PDF

  • Senate Substitute

    1/30/2025

    PDF

  • Introduced

    1/8/2025

    PDF

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