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MissouriSB9822026 Regular SessionSenateWALLET

Modifies provisions relating to the sex offender registry

Sponsored By: Mary Elizabeth Coleman (Republican)

Signed by Governor

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

15 provisions identified: 5 benefits, 7 costs, 3 mixed.

Some offenders can avoid registry requirements

Courts must grant exemptions when petitioners prove eligibility for the listed sexual-conduct or obscenity-related categories. Covered sexual conduct includes a victim ages 14–17 with an age gap no greater than four years, or an adult 18 or older. These categories require no force or threats and exclude victims under the person's custodial authority. Courts can examine the underlying conduct for exemptions that depend on the facts. Filing before registration is required pauses registration; after denial, registration begins three business days after appeal rights end. An exemption removes an existing registry entry for that offense, but other nonexempt offenses can still require registration.

Covered juveniles avoid online registry notices

Juveniles in the registration category under section 589.400(1)(5) are exempt from public internet notification. This protection includes qualifying cases from other states and specified federal, tribal, and military jurisdictions. It does not eliminate their registration duty.

More ways to qualify for removal

Eligible registrants can count voluntary or court-ordered treatment certified by a jurisdiction or the Missouri Attorney General. When required treatment records are missing, satisfactory probation-completion records serve as evidence of treatment completion unless rebutted. A court's reduction or termination of lifetime supervision or probation can satisfy the supervision-completion requirement. Clean-record, treatment, and other applicable removal requirements still apply.

New paths to seek registry removal

People registered solely for another jurisdiction's offense can petition if it required no registration there when adjudicated. Another path covers people who never lived, worked, or attended school there and never had to register there. They can also register an order ending that jurisdiction's duty, but separate Missouri removal requirements remain. A reversed, vacated, or set-aside offense opens a petition path without standard waiting periods or the Tier III restriction; certified proof is required. After a denial based on law later changed, repealed, or invalidated, petitioners can refile within the usual five-year bar. The new filing must identify the earlier case and court and explain the legal change; approval is not automatic.

More offenses trigger sex offender registration

Missouri registration rules cover qualifying cases dating back to July 1, 1979, subject to registration exemptions. A case can count as an adjudication even without a sentence. Covered offenses include grooming, nonconsensual sharing of private sexual images, and threats to share them. For the specified juvenile category, attempts and conspiracies count starting at age 14, subject to the offense severity threshold. The law distinguishes child-pornography offenses before August 28, 2026, from corresponding child sexual abuse material offenses.

New offenses set registry reporting levels

Tier I additions include possessing child sexual abuse material, first-degree sexual misconduct, and grooming a minor. Tier II additions include first- and second-degree promotion of child sexual abuse material. Specified private-image sharing or threat offenses are Tier II when victims are 17 or younger or coercion is sexual. Sexual conduct during public duty is Tier I for victims 18 or older, Tier II for ages 13–17, and Tier III below 13. This replaces the listed prisoner-contact offense in Tier III and updates the predatory or persistent offender reference. The law preserves references to the child-pornography possession and promotion laws in effect before August 28, 2026.

Registrants cannot change their legal names

People required to register cannot change their legal names for the full registration period. They must report prior legal names used on or after the conviction date for a registrable offense as aliases.

Registrants face registration and travel deadlines

Covered adults and juveniles must register within three business days of adjudication, release, probation placement, or covered commitment-related release. They must also register in their home county within three business days unless already registered there for the same offense. Before international travel, registrants must appear in person and complete required United States Marshals Service forms at least 21 days ahead. Officials send the travel information to the Marshals Service and provide a copy to the Highway Patrol.

Registry relief requires one court process

People adjudicated of registrable offenses must use the designated circuit-court petition process to seek removal or exemption. They cannot use a separate lawsuit seeking a declaration that registration requirements do not apply. Cases about offenses that never required registration, or solely about tier classification, remain allowed. Petitioners pay court filing fees and the costs of state and federal fingerprint-based checks.

Registry tiers control required check-in visits

Tier I registrants appear yearly, Tier II every six months, and Tier III every 90 days, using birth-month schedules. The highest applicable tier controls; comparable cases from other jurisdictions count, and specified prior cases or registration failures raise tiers. Local officials assign tiers, but Highway Patrol corrections control after notice or a missed next scheduled check-in. For specified juvenile, out-of-state, federal, tribal, and military categories, tiers set visit frequency and removal eligibility—not the registration duty. Private agents assigned to supervise someone because of registrable-offender status also count as probation officers.

Registrants face new location reporting rules

A registrant's residence is their main legal home; another sleeping location becomes temporary after seven days or nights within 12 months. Those days need not be consecutive; registrants report stay length, whether it is outside Missouri, and changes within three business days. Covered registrants register in person where they work, volunteer, intern unpaid, attend school or training, or stay temporarily in Missouri. Covered nonresidents register during temporary Missouri residency exceeding seven days within 12 months. Nonresidents not registering for temporary residency register during qualifying work, school, volunteering, or internships, in one priority county: work, then school, then volunteering or another status. These rules replace older nonresident and seven-day absence-reporting provisions rather than ending those duties entirely.

Registrants report more details with flexibility

Registration statements must include biological sex and online identifiers, including email, user IDs, social media profiles, device identifiers, and IP addresses. Registrants report covered vehicle, temporary-home, phone, electronic-communication, and online-identifier changes within three business days. Officials forward those changes to the Highway Patrol within three business days. The law removes specified older rules requiring in-person change reports, but keeps separate reporting duties. A court-appointed guardian can sign the form; the registrant must still appear in person and follow registry restrictions.

More care options for committed predators

The mental health department can arrange Corrections Department care, including health care, for people committed as sexually violent predators. Corrections must have the needed space and services, and its director must agree. These people stay separately housed and managed, except for occasional supervised incidental contact with other offenders. The mental health department can also hire licensed professionals or care providers for covered court-ordered, probable-cause, and committed patients.

Felony penalties reach contracted secure facilities

Existing felony penalties extend to covered employees, offenders, and property in authorized contracted or interagency secure facilities. An offender's knowing violence against a covered employee or another offender is a class B felony. Knowing damage to covered property is a class D felony. The expansion applies only to entities covered by the authorized care agreements or contracts.

Officials update public registry access rules

The Highway Patrol must maintain a searchable public registry website without the former annual-funding condition. It must regularly remove deceased people and court-ordered removals or exemptions; people moving away are removed after confirmed registration compliance elsewhere. Officials report registration notices and enter completed forms and updates within three days. The Patrol shares records through state and national police databases. The law repeals one local online-search and newspaper-publication authority, but separately allows registration officials to maintain public search websites.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

  • Mary Elizabeth Coleman

    Republican • Senate

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 20 • No: 1

House vote • 4/13/2026

Reported Do Pass

Yes: 6 • No: 0 • Other: 1

House vote • 4/9/2026

HCS Reported Do Pass

Yes: 14 • No: 1 • Other: 1

Actions Timeline

  1. Delivered to Secretary of State (G)

    5/7/2026

  2. Approved by Governor (G)

    5/7/2026

  3. Delivered to Governor

    4/23/2026

  4. Signed by House Speaker

    4/23/2026House

  5. Truly Agreed To and Finally Passed

    4/23/2026

  6. Taken Up

    4/23/2026

  7. House Message

    4/21/2026House

  8. Third Read and Passed with Amendments - With HA 1

    4/21/2026House

  9. HCS Adopted

    4/21/2026House

  10. Title of Bill - Agreed To

    4/21/2026

  11. Taken Up for Third Reading

    4/21/2026House

  12. Reported Do Pass - AYES: 6 NOES: 0 PRESENT: 1

    4/13/2026House

  13. Voted Do Pass

    4/13/2026House

  14. Executive Session Completed

    4/13/2026House

  15. Referred: Rules - Legislative

    4/9/2026House

  16. HCS Reported Do Pass - AYES: 14 NOES: 1 PRESENT: 1

    4/9/2026House

  17. HCS Voted Do Pass

    4/7/2026House

  18. Executive Session Completed

    4/7/2026House

  19. Public Hearing Completed

    3/31/2026House

  20. Referred: Crime and Public Safety

    3/12/2026House

  21. Read Second Time

    3/9/2026House

  22. Reported to the House and First Read

    3/5/2026House

Bill Text

  • Truly Agreed

    4/23/2026

    PDF

  • Committee Substitute

    PDF

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