The Missouri Legislature closed its 2025 session on May 16 and State Rep. Jeff Myers spoke about what bills they were able to pass, including several he sponsored. 

Myers, a Republican representing District 42 that encompasses all of Warren County and a portion of Montgomery County, and also served as the chairman of the Crime and Public Safety Committee for the house. 

As a former trooper for the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Myers sponsored and helped pass several bills bolstering law enforcement in the state. 

The first of those was HB 225, making changes to mutual aid agreements for first responder agencies as well as extending line of duty death benefits for the families of first responders which were set to expire. 

“It dealt with law enforcement procedures that had had a provision in there to allow mutual aid agreements between out of state entity agencies as well,” said Myers. 

He said other states have similar laws allowing for mutual aid agreements with out-of-state agencies but Missouri did not yet have one on the books. As chairman of the Crime and Public Safety Committee he felt it was an important issue to rectify, especially with the expected influx of people with Kansas City hosting World Cup games in 2026. 

“Even if we were able to cannibalize a large portion of our law enforcement workforce in the state, it would not have been able to take care of all the places that need secured,” said Myers. 

He said the bill established procedures for payments and arrests made to out-of-state agencies as well. 

With his position on the Crime and Public Safety Committee, he also played a role in passing legislation to establish state control over the St. Louis Police Department, a legislative priority for Gov. Mike Kehoe. 

He had also previously spoken about the importance of funding child care in rural communities and was proud to have voted to pass HB 850 which was sponsored by District 141 Representative Melissa Schmidt, a Republican representing parts of Douglas, Laclede, Webster and Wright counties. 

That legislation eased licensing requirements to allow existing providers to expand facilities and open new ones with a more efficient process. 

He was also proud that the House fully funded the state’s education formula He noted it was a record amount of money for Missouri schools. 

“I was glad to see that those made that through fully-funded,” said Myers. “Because if you make that commitment, you don’t then, not write that check.”

Unfortunately some of Myers’ legislative priorities fell by the wayside during a packed legislative calendar including HB 2688, which would have given law enforcement more tools to combat human trafficking and placed the heavier emphasis on prosecuting those who patronize prostitution. 

He was disappointed he left Jefferson City with those priorities unfulfilled, but still felt it was a productive session and was pleased with bills approved to repeal or make changes to some of the ballot measures that were passed in the Nov. 6, 2024 election. 

Those two ballot measures were Amendment 3 and Proposition A. Amendment 3 established the right to an abortion up to the point of fetal viability while Proposition A established requirements for paid sick leave by Missouri employers and increases to the state minimum wage. 

Both measures passed statewide although neither passed in Warren County. 

The House and the Senate passed legislation walking back some of the changes made by Proposition A including removing the requirements for paid sick leave and mandated increases to the state minimum wage. He noted there would still be increases to the minimum wage in the state, but they would no longer be tied to cost of living adjustments. 

Myers felt the measures passed due to flaws in the state’s ballot petition process and that Proposition A placed an undue burden on small business owners. 

“With our initiative petition process, if you’ve got enough money, you can put whatever you want (on the ballot) and then if you’ve got enough money to promote it, then you can get people to vote for it,” said Myers. 

The legislature also approved placing a ballot measure before voters to repeal Amendment 3 and reinstitute a ban on abortion, this time with exceptions for victims of rape and incest as well as fetal anomalies, up to 12 weeks gestation. 

It remains unclear whether that ballot measure will appear on the November 2026 ballot or if Kehoe will call a special election for the measure. 

Myers defended a vote to reinstate the ban, this time with exceptions, since he felt it was closer to what Missourians wanted and pointed out that voters within his district voted overwhelmingly against the original amendment. 

“I know people have disputed that, saying that we’re telling the voters they made the wrong decision. I’m saying for my district, they voted overwhelmingly not to have that right (to abortion),” said Myers.