Dozens of New Missouri Laws Take Effect Friday

Jefferson City, Mo. (KFMO) - Dozens of bills approved by the Missouri General Assembly during the 2026 legislative session take effect Friday, August 28.

The new laws cover a wide range of issues, including transportation, health care, criminal law, education, elections, economic development, real estate and government operations.

Senate Bills

SB 834 - Mortgage and Residential Sale-Leaseback Transactions: Creates protections for homeowners involved in residential sale-leaseback agreements and establishes disclosure requirements. It also creates uniform rules for modifying mortgages.

SB 863 - Statewide School Activities Associations: Establishes new oversight requirements involving statewide organizations regulating school athletics and activities.

SB 878 - Pharmaceutical Drugs and Devices: Changes pharmacy and medication laws, including the yearly purchase limit for certain pseudoephedrine products and pharmacists' authority involving vaccines and certain medical devices.

SB 913 - Tax Credits: Extends several Missouri tax-credit programs through 2033, including credits involving wood energy, meat processing, ethanol, biodiesel, urban farms and agriculture. A new railroad-infrastructure tax credit begins in 2027.

SB 914 - Sewage Regulation: Changes requirements governing sewage systems and certain sewage-system installers and regulators.

SB 916 - Sovereign Immunity: Changes circumstances under which MoDOT and certain private contractors can be held liable for injuries involving government vehicles or dangerous property conditions.

SB 937 - State Property: Authorizes transfers involving certain state-owned property.

SB 938 - Land Surveying: Raises certain recording fees associated with land records and directs some of the additional revenue to county recorder funds and the Missouri Land Survey Fund.

SB 953 - Environmental Programs: Changes several programs administered by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources involving water and environmental regulation.

SB 959 - Missouri GIS Advisory Council: Creates a council to help coordinate geographic and mapping data used by state and local governments.

SB 973 - Real Estate Transactions: Makes extensive changes involving delinquent property taxes, tax sales, land banks, foreclosure procedures and other real-estate transactions.

SB 975 - Ambulance Districts: Changes administrative and operational requirements for ambulance districts.

SB 977 - Foreign Law: Limits Missouri courts from applying foreign law when doing so would violate rights protected under Missouri or federal law.

SB 982 - Sexual Offenses and Sex-Offender Registration: Changes Missouri's sex-offender registry and related criminal-record systems, including classifications and registration requirements.

SB 1000 - Tourism Supplemental Revenue Fund: Changes how certain tourism revenue is handled.

SB 1002 - School Board Elections: Changes procedures involving questions submitted to voters by school boards.

SB 1019 - Health Care: Changes laws involving hospitals, hospital investments and health-care administration.

SB 1033 - Air Quality: Changes Missouri air-quality regulations and related Department of Natural Resources programs.

SB 1067 - Public Expression Lawsuits: Provides protections against certain lawsuits based on speech, journalism, petitioning or participation in matters of public concern. Qualifying lawsuits may be dismissed earlier in the court process.

SB 1119 - Article V Convention Commissioners: Establishes procedures for selecting and governing Missouri commissioners if an Article V constitutional convention is called.

SB 1135 - Bentley and Mason's Law: Allows courts to order people convicted of certain DWI offenses to provide financial support for surviving children when a parent or guardian is killed in a crash.

SB 1142 - Series LLCs: Updates Missouri law governing series limited liability companies.

SB 1408 - 75 MPH Speed Limit: Raises the maximum speed limit from 70 to 75 miles per hour on qualifying rural interstate highways and freeways.

SB 1470 - Legislative Research: Changes the duties and functions of the Joint Committee on Legislative Research.

SB 1544 - State Designations: Creates various official Missouri designations, including commemorative days, places and named highways.

SB 1553 - Critical Materials and Pharmaceuticals: Creates state incentives designed to encourage production of certain critical materials and pharmaceutical products in Missouri.

SB 1572 - Public Employee Retirement: Changes provisions governing several Missouri public-employee retirement systems.

SB 1576 - Missouri-Ireland Trade Commission: Creates the Missouri Ireland Trade Commission to promote trade and investment between Missouri and Ireland.

SB 1629 - Underground Utilities: Changes excavation and underground-utility requirements designed to help prevent damage to buried lines and facilities.

House Bills

HB 1696 - Care of Vulnerable Persons: Changes rules concerning who has authority over the remains of a deceased minor in certain circumstances. It also requires background checks for certain adult employees and volunteers at residential camps.

HB 1740 - Driving While Intoxicated: Makes changes to Missouri DWI laws involving driver's licenses and penalties.

HB 1786 - Highway Patrol Purchases: Changes purchasing rules for certain Missouri State Highway Patrol vehicles, boats, motors and trailers.

HB 1825 - County Finances: Changes provisions involving county finances, county officials and salary commissions.

HB 1827 - Disabled License Plates and Placards: Allows licensed occupational therapists to provide certain documentation required for disabled license plates and parking placards.

HB 1839 - Adult Website Age Verification: Requires certain websites containing material considered harmful to minors to verify that users are adults and establishes civil penalties for violations.

HB 1866 - Peace Officer Licensing: Changes Missouri peace-officer licensing laws, including circumstances involving previous disciplinary action.

HB 1867 - Joplin Tourism Tax: Allows Joplin voters to consider increasing the city's transient guest tax used for tourism.

HB 1871 - Elections: Makes numerous changes to Missouri election law, including candidate filing, election notices, provisional ballots, absentee voting, polling places, campaign contributions and election administration.

HB 1908 - Divorce During Pregnancy: Allows a Missouri court to finalize a divorce or legal separation when one spouse is pregnant.

HB 1940 - Publication of Notices: Changes requirements for publishing certain legal, election and government notices.

HB 2057 - Entertainment Districts: Allows certain Missouri cities to establish entertainment districts operating under special state rules.

HB 2061 - Antisemitism in Education: Establishes provisions addressing antisemitic conduct that threatens students or employees at Missouri educational institutions.

HB 2108 - State Property: Authorizes transfers of certain state-owned property.

HB 2180 - Mail Sent by State Departments: Allows certain state departments to use first-class mail or electronic delivery instead of certified or registered mail for some notices. It also changes certain mailing requirements involving the Ethics Commission and blind-pension program.

HB 2273 - Sexual Offenses: Makes extensive changes involving the protection of children and vulnerable people from sexual exploitation, including laws concerning grooming, child sexual abuse material, nonconsensual intimate images, human trafficking and online sexual exploitation.

HB 2292 - Abuse and Neglect Reporting: Changes mandatory abuse-and-neglect reporting requirements for certain professionals and includes provisions involving suspected abuse of companion animals.

HB 2366 - Employment: Changes Missouri laws involving employers that knowingly employ people who are not legally authorized to work in the United States.

HB 2372 - Health Care: Makes extensive changes throughout Missouri's health-care system.

Among the provisions are new Lyme disease monitoring, reporting and treatment requirements; adding alpha-gal syndrome to certain disease-reporting requirements; expanded access to certain doula and childbirth-education services; changes to telehealth and pseudoephedrine laws; nutrition-based health services through MO HealthNet; future electronic prior-authorization requirements; changes to health-care licensing; protections for qualifying 340B prescription-drug providers; and changes to insurance coverage.

Beginning in 2027, certain insurance plans will also be required to cover up to a one-year supply of hormonal contraceptives.

The bill also changes anesthesia coverage and expands coverage for home blood-pressure monitoring during pregnancy and postpartum.

HB 2397 - Public Water Supply Districts: Changes procedures involving public water-supply districts, including the dissolution of certain districts.

HB 2423 - Division of Finance: Changes laws governing Missouri's Division of Finance and financial-industry regulation.

HB 2474 - Public Contracts: Changes requirements involving certain public construction contracts, including progressive design-build projects.

HB 2508 - Business Entities: Changes laws governing business entities regulated by the Missouri Secretary of State, including series LLCs.

HB 2576 - State Designations: Creates numerous official Missouri designations and names certain roads and highways.

HB 2586 - Credit Unions: Updates Missouri credit-union laws, including membership shares and electronic participation in board meetings.

HB 2593 - Military Affairs: Makes changes affecting veterans, military members and the Missouri National Guard, including preferences for qualifying veteran-owned businesses seeking certain government contracts, additional legal protections for Guard members, changes to the Military Family Relief Fund, health-insurance assistance for certain Guard members, military leave and National Guard education benefits.

HB 2596 - Health Benefit Plans: Changes financial and reporting requirements for certain multiple-employer health plans. Beginning January 1, 2027, qualifying plans that cover self-administered hormonal contraceptives must cover up to a one-year supply.

HB 2636 - Real Estate Transactions: Creates protections and requirements involving real-estate transactions, including mortgage modifications, sale-leaseback agreements and certain insurance-related property claims.

HB 2818 - Annexation: Changes procedures Missouri cities must follow when annexing land outside their existing boundaries.

HB 2819 - Cash Transaction Rounding: Establishes rules allowing certain cash purchases to be rounded to the nearest five cents under specified circumstances.

HB 2885 - Water Patrol: Requires certain boating-registration revenue to be placed in a fund used by the Missouri State Highway Patrol's Water Patrol Division.

HB 2896 - Education: Removes the scheduled expiration of the Workforce Diploma Program, changes geographic requirements for governing boards at certain public colleges and universities, and establishes an ongoing elementary agricultural-education program beginning with the 2027-28 school year.

HB 2934 - St. Louis Convention and Sports Authorities: Changes governance and funding provisions involving regional convention, tourism and sports authorities in St. Louis City and St. Louis County.

HB 2974 - Professional License Reciprocity: Expands Missouri's recognition of certain out-of-state professional licenses and establishes or joins several interstate licensing compacts, including those involving health-care professions.

HB 3080 - Historic Facilities: Changes state programs and incentives involving certain historically significant facilities and properties.

HB 3231 - Economic Development: Creates and expands several economic-development programs, including redevelopment incentives, Missouri Works incentives and Missouri Innovation Zones.

The bill also includes programs supporting rural development, public safety and infrastructure, business and employee relocation, conversion of underused commercial buildings into housing, opportunity zones and investments in qualifying Missouri startup companies.

HB 3279 - Missouri Community Service Commission: Changes the organization and duties of the Missouri Community Service Commission.

The new laws take effect Friday, August 28.