2019 Missouri Legislative Session begins

On Wednesday, January 9th, the first regular session of the 100th General Assembly began at noon in the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City. The first day of session is generally ceremonial in nature and allows for the Speaker of the House and President Pro-Tem of the Senate to provide speeches on their legislative priorities.

House Speaker Elijah Haahr (R-Springfield) expressed his support and call for finding solutions to the opioid epidemic; supporting public education; reforming the criminal justice system and balancing the state budget. Senate President Dave Schatz (R-Sullivan) called on the Senate to “reduce the burden of government” in regard to tax policy, government regulation and civil justice reform measures.

The Republicans maintain super-majorities in both legislative chambers with margins of 24-10 in the Senate and 115-47 in the House. Both chambers will begin adopting a series of resolutions next week that will create their rules and procedures for the new General Assembly. Following the adoption of House and Senate Rules, both leaders will then make key appointments to committees. Due to the timeline to get all rules into place, it is unlikely we will see any legislative action during the second week of session.

The legislature is scheduled to return at 10 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 14. Governor Mike Parson (R) is scheduled to deliver his State of the State Address before a Joint Session on Wednesday Jan. 16 at 3 p.m.

Over 750 bills have been filed so far for the 2019 legislative session and more bills will be filed throughout the bill filing period. We will continue to update our bill tracking list and send you full bill text of any particularly high interest legislation.