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Educators in Action: Understanding Missouri Congress!

This page is designed to keep educators informed about what is happening in the Missouri General Assembly and how decisions made at the state level can impact our schools, classrooms, and students. Here, educators will find updates on proposed education bills, summaries of legislative discussions, and information about policies that affect teaching, funding, student services, and school communities across Missouri.

The goal of this page is to help educators stay aware, ask questions, and understand how laws are created and changed. By learning about the legislative process and current education topics being discussed at the Missouri State Capitol, educators can better advocate for their students, schools, and the future of education. This space will also highlight opportunities for educators to engage in discussions, attend events, and share their voices about issues that matter most in education.

Together, we can stay informed, empowered, and active in supporting strong educational policies for all students.

 

 

 

MO AFL-CIO Tracking List 

Senate

This bill regulates how health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers apply prescription drug cost-sharing, ensuring certain patient payments count toward out-of-pocket limits for medications. Current language exempts most union plans under the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947.

This act provides that employers may pay sub-minimum wage rates of $12.30 per hour to any employee who is a minor. 

                 

Position-Oppose 

Allows counties to adopt local “right-to-work” laws by voter approval, meaning:

  • Employers cannot require union membership or union dues as a condition of employment.

  • Violations can result in criminal penalties and civil lawsuits.

Position-Oppose

SB 1585 - This act provides that a labor organization or public body may not place a restriction on the time that a public employee of a school district may join or terminate membership in a labor organization.              

Position-Oppose 

This bill establishes a structured collective bargaining process for public employees, requiring timelines for negotiations and mandating mediation and binding arbitration to resolve disputes when agreements cannot be reached.

Position-Support 

Reinstates minimum wage cost-of-living increases, restores earned paid sick leave, adds paid bereavement leave for some private employees, and allows enforcement through penalties and employee lawsuits.

Position-Support

Allows any public school student to transfer to another public school district starting in the 2027–28 school year, not just students from unaccredited districts.

  • Districts must publicly report available capacity.

  • Transfers cannot be denied based on academics, disability, race, income, or address.

  • Students count as residents of the receiving district for funding.

  • Tuition is prohibited.

  • Transportation and special education responsibilities are clearly defined.

Position-Oppose 

SB 971 – Expanded Student Transfers:

  • Any student may transfer to another public school starting in 202728; previously limited to students in unaccredited districts.

  • School boards report transfer capacity to DESE; DESE assigns students based on available space.

  • Receiving districts must accept assigned students and cannot discriminate based on address, academics, athletics, disability, race, sex, or lunch status.

  • Sending districts no longer pay tuition; transfer students count as residents of receiving districts for funding.

  • DESE-designated transportation provided by sending districts; special rules apply for special education services and reimbursements.

This act broadly expands school choice and clarifies funding, transportation, and special education responsibilities. 

Position-Oppose 

Expands eligibility and limits regulation of schools participating in Missouri’s scholarship account program.

  • Broadens who qualifies for scholarships.

  • Removes prior public school attendance and sibling requirements.

  • Allows parent organizations to intervene in legal challenges.

  • Prohibits new rules requiring accreditation or additional conditions for participating schools unless explicitly allowed by law. 

Position-Oppose  

Expands eligibility and flexibility in the Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Program by:

  • Removing income and special-education requirements.

  • Allowing more students to qualify.

  • Allowing funds to be used for computers, calculators, and commuter passes.

  • Clarifying students don’t have to leave public school before applying.

  • Preventing added regulation of participating private schools. 

Position-Oppose 

This act repeals provisions authorizing the establishment of charter schools in Boone County. This act is identical to SB 88 (2025) and HB 298 (2025).  

Position-Support

Requires charter schools and private schools participating in the Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Program to follow the same procurement rules, wage standards, contracting requirements, accountability systems, and accreditation processes as public school districts. The bill limits uncertified teachers to 10% of instructional staff across school districts, charter schools, and private schools, expands eligibility for innovation waivers, applies Sunshine Law and financial transparency requirements, and standardizes reporting, assessments, and school start dates.

Position-Support

Prohibits lobbyists from being paid to lobby on behalf of foreign adversaries or their affiliates.

  • Bans lobbyists from receiving any form of compensation (direct, indirect, cash, or in-kind) for lobbying for:

  • A foreign adversary

  • A foreign political party of a foreign adversary

  • A foreign adversary client

Makes extensive changes to workers’ compensation, including:

  • Narrowing which injuries and diseases qualify for coverage.

  • Limiting benefits for certain travel, recreational, and mental stress claims.

  • Creating mandatory medical fee schedules.

  • Tightening deadlines for claims and notice.

  • Expanding employer subrogation rights.

  • Revising Second Injury Fund rules.

  • Allowing settlements contingent on resignation to be excluded as evidence.

Position-Oppose

SB865 - Sen. Doug Beck (D) - Modifies provisions relating to workers' compensation

Changes how work-related injuries and occupational diseases qualify for workers’ compensation by:

  • Removing the “prevailing factor” standard and replacing it with a “substantial factor” test.

  • Clarifying that work must be a significant cause of the injury, not just a trigger.

  • Restoring legal interpretations used before 2005.

  • Limiting compensation for injuries tied mainly to recreational activities.

  • Creating a right to a final hearing after a worker reaches maximum medical improvement.

This act essentially narrows compensability, clarifies definitions, and restores pre-2005 legal standards. 

Position-Support

Makes major changes to how workers’ compensation cases are handled and how administrative law judges (ALJs) are governed.

  • Simplifies changing attorneys in workers’ comp cases.

  • Increases the number of ALJs and sets mandatory retirement at age 70.

  • Replaces retention votes with a formal complaint and discipline process.

  • Expands grounds for ALJ removal and allows suspension with pay in limited cases.

  • Adjusts ALJ compensation, retirement rules, and benefits.

This bill focuses on standardization and statewide oversight: 

  • Potential weakening of local safety standards if statewide codes replace stronger local worker-protection requirements.

  • Reduced local influence for labor organizations in jurisdictions that previously had more rigorous or worker-friendly codes.

  • Agricultural building exemption may leave workers in those projects without consistent safety protections.

  • Centralized decision-making could limit labor’s ability to quickly address region-specific safety concerns.

  • Inspection standardization risks under-enforcement if resources or staffing are insufficient at the state level.

Position-Oppose 

Makes broad updates to how port authorities operate, including:

  • Clarifying when counties or cities can create port authorities.

  • Expanding port authority powers (law enforcement, development, housing in some cases).

  • Raising the threshold for competitive bidding.

  • Increasing oversight through audits and reporting.

  • Allowing regional port authorities under certain conditions.

  • Adjusting rules for port improvement districts and economic development incentives.

  • Limited direct wage protection: The bill focuses on contractor and subcontractor payment timing, not direct wage theft or benefit enforcement for workers.

  • Relies on employer compliance: Workers remain dependent on contractors passing payments through properly rather than having direct remedies.

  • No explicit labor standards: Does not address prevailing wage, apprenticeships, safety standards, or workforce training requirements.

  • Flow-down disputes may delay paychecks: Disputes between owners, contractors, and subs could still indirectly delay worker compensation.

  • Excludes small residential projects, where labor abuses are often more common. 

This act provides that any contractor performing maintenance of mechanical systems or equipment within an industrial facility, as described in the act, shall not be required to obtain a local or state license to perform such work. This act is identical to HB 1247 (2025). 

Position-Oppose 

Updates the Missouri Works program by revising wage and payroll definitions, allowing employer-paid health insurance to count toward new payroll, and requiring affidavits with job creation estimates. The bill bases tax credits on taxable wages instead of total payroll, permits flexibility when average wage targets are missed, and adds new criteria for awarding credits, including participation in approved pre-apprenticeship programs and preference for Missouri-based contractors using local workers

Position-Support

Requires completion of a state disparity study on minority- and women-owned businesses by December 31, 2028, and creates a Minority Business Enterprise and Women’s Business Enterprise Oversight Review Committee to study participation, maintain a statewide vendor database, notify businesses of contracting opportunities, set subcontractor notification requirements, and recommend sanctions for noncompliance. Provisions sunset in 2032 unless reauthorized.

Position-Support

Authorizes fully autonomous vehicles to operate on Missouri public roads without a human driver if safety, insurance, registration, and federal compliance requirements are met. The bill sets standards for system failure responses, commercial and on-demand autonomous vehicle operations, exempts driver-dependent equipment requirements, and preempts local governments from restricting or separately regulating autonomous vehicles. 

This act provides that each motor vehicle, commercial motor vehicle, recreational motor vehicle, bus, and school bus operated on the roads and highways of this state shall have an appropriately endorsed driver who holds a valid license present with active control of the vehicle at all times.                

Position-Support

Position-Support

Position-Support 

 

House

Like SB 22 (2025) in that in that it overhauls Missouri’s laws governing ballot summary statements, fiscal note summaries, and initiative petition procedures. Seeks to give the legislature and Secretary of State more control over the content and timing of ballot language. Reflects a legislative effort to influence how statewide ballot measures are presented to voters and to limit judicial intervention, with HB 3146 replacing the same sections of law that SB 22 previously amended.

Position-Oppose 

Currently, membership dues may be deducted from the compensation of employees that request such deduction. This bill prohibits school districts from deducting or collecting dues, fees, or contributions on behalf of a professional association or political fund. The bill defines "professional association" as a lawful association that is composed of school district employees and exists for the purpose of dealing with school district employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, or other terms and conditions of employment. This bill allows school district employees to join or terminate membership in professional associations at any time and prohibits such associations from limiting when an employee may join or terminate their memberships. This bill is similar to HB 3001 (2026).

Position-Oppose 

These bills establish a structured collective bargaining process for public employees, requiring timelines for negotiations and mandating mediation and binding arbitration to resolve disputes when agreements cannot be reached.

Position-Support

Position-Oppose 

This bill weakens unions’ financial stability by delaying mandatory dues collection, even though new hires immediately benefit from union representation, contract enforcement, and workplace protections. Over time, applying the provisions in this bill would undermine collective bargaining strength, reduce union resources for grievance handling and safety enforcement, and make it harder for unions to effectively represent workers—especially in high-turnover industries.

Position-Oppose  

  • Adjusts how long people can receive unemployment benefits based on the state’s

  • unemployment rate.

  • Currently, unemployment benefits last up to 20 weeks.

  • Starting January 1, 2027, the maximum benefit period will vary based on Missouri’s

  • average unemployment rate.

  • When unemployment is high, benefits last longer (up to 20 weeks).

  • When unemployment is low, benefits are shorter (as few as 8 weeks).

  • The benefit duration decreases gradually as the unemployment rate drops.

  • Ties unemployment benefit availability directly to economic conditions.

  • Identical to SB 8 (2025) and similar to HB 771 (2025). 

Position-Oppose

This bill creates several disadvantages for labor and injured workers by raising the burden of proof required to qualify for workers’ compensation benefits. Workers must now show that a workplace accident was the prevailing factor not only in causing the injury, but also the resulting medical condition, disability, and the need for treatment, making claims harder to prove and easier for employers to dispute. By requiring the prevailing factor standard to be met before medical treatment is authorized, injured employees may face delays or denials of care while causation is contested. The bill also allows consideration of other insurance or benefit sources when determining compensation, which could reduce workers’ compensation awards even when injuries are job-related. Additionally, employers are given expanded authority to seek early dismissal of claims on procedural or employment-related grounds, potentially preventing workers from reaching a full hearing on the merits of their case. The repeal of penalties for unpaid temporary or partial awards removes an important enforcement mechanism, weakening incentives for timely payment and increasing financial strain on injured workers during recovery. 

Position-Oppose 

Under current law, construction industry employers must provide workers' compensation if they have one or more employees. This bill increases that threshold to five or more employees.

Position-Oppose 

  • Allows fully autonomous vehicles on public roads if safety, insurance, registration, and reporting requirements are met.

  • Treats the automated driving system as the legal driver under traffic laws.

  • Requires a law enforcement plan and proof of financial responsibility before driverless operation.

  • Permits autonomous vehicle networks under existing for-hire vehicle rules.

  • Exempts driverless-only vehicles from human-driver equipment requirements.

  • Preempts local regulation and grants rulemaking authority to the Department of Public Safety.

Position-Oppose  

Diverts funding from schools that serve most students. 

Position-Oppose 

Diverts funding from schools that serve most students. 

Position-Oppose 

These bills strengthen enforcement against employers who knowingly exploit unauthorized labor, which can improve wage fairness and job standards. Employee misclassification and wage theft in Missouri’s construction industry allow unscrupulous law-breaking contractors to have an unfair advantage over law-abiding contractors who see their market share materially diminished or reduced from such illegal actions. 

Position-Support 

Provisions within this bill could allow developers to receive significant public incentives without paying prevailing wage. Also, would reduce local control.

Position-Oppose 

This bill can be harmful to construction workers because it limits local governments’ ability to require higher building standards, including energy efficiency and safety-related practices that often create more skilled, higher-quality work and better long-term job stability. By discouraging or prohibiting “green” or high-performance construction, the bill may reduce demand for specialized union trades and apprenticeship-trained workers who perform this work. The strict 30-day approval deadline and automatic permit approvals can also pressure inspectors and contractors to rush projects, increasing the risk of unsafe job sites and construction errors that directly affect worker safety. In addition, weakening local control over building standards can drive a race to the bottom on quality, wages, and working conditions, benefiting low-road contractors at the expense of skilled construction workers and responsible employers

Position-Oppose 

This bill deals with deregulation at the residential level: This proposal could be harmful for construction labor because it significantly reduces permitting, inspection, and licensing requirements for homeowner-performed work, which can displace skilled, licensed workers and undercut professional standards. By allowing homeowners or other residents to perform work without licenses, certifications, or testing, the bill encourages do-it-yourself construction that competes directly with trained tradespeople, including electricians, carpenters, and plumbers (outside limited exceptions). Shortened inspection timelines, waived inspections after delays, unlimited permit renewals, and capped fines further weaken enforcement, reducing oversight that helps ensure work is performed by qualified professionals. These changes can lower demand for skilled labor, depress wages, and increase unsafe or substandard work that ultimately harms workers’ reputations and job security. Additionally, restricting inspections and limiting local authority reduces public-sector inspection jobs and weakens accountability systems that protect both workers and the public, while prioritizing speed and cost savings over labor standards and craftsmanship.

Position-Oppose 

Position-Support

Position-Oppose 

Position-Oppose 

Position-Support

Allows taxpayers to deduct union dues from state income taxes, up to $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for joint filers, excluding political and lobbying expenses.

Position-Support

Position-Support

Position-Support

Position-Oppose 

Position-Support

Position-Support

Position-Support

Summary

This bill requires any county with a charter form of government to publish statutorily-required notices on the internet as well as in a newspaper. The bill also requires the Secretary of State to develop a page on the office's website on which these notices can be accessed by the public. 

Position-Support

Position-Support

Position-Support

Position-Oppose 

Position-Oppose 

Position-Support

This proposal strengthens life-safety protections for building occupants and first responders.  

Position-Support

 

Position-Oppose 

 

Position-Oppose 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Without an exemption or carve out for ERISA plans, we oppose provisions that seek to regulate Pharmacy benefit managers because it fundamentally changes the way many of our health plans do business in the state. Below is a list of PBM bills that we are tracking. 

 

 

 

 

 

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