The Missouri Legislative Session ended in May and as usual, there was plenty of action that impacted our rivers, streams, and drinking water. We tracked over 124 pieces of legislation – good and bad – that were related to drinking water, boating, renewable energy, hazardous waste, and of course, protections for Missouri’s rivers and streams. We intervened in favor of good bills, and helped strip the worst part out of some bad bills. In a legislative session mostly defined by gridlock, we’re happy to have had a positive impact on some bills that did become law, and hope to build on the bipartisan relationships we built during this session in 2024.
What Happened
This was also Waterkeeper’s first full Legislative Session with a presence in the Capitol. While our priority bills did not pass this year, many of them cleared important hurdles in committee and will likely return next year. Our resolution to create a Rivers of Missouri Day passed unanimously out of two House committees (Tourism and Legislative Oversight). Rep. Peter Meredith (D - St. Louis City) and Sen. Tracy McCreery (D - St. Louis County) sponsored this resolution. HB 1129, which would have strengthened Missouri’s control over its water resources, passed out of two committees as well. This bill sponsored by Rep. Jamie Burger (R - Benton) narrowly missed being taken up by the full House for a vote. For first-time bills, both made it a long way towards becoming law, which is a good sign they will have an opportunity to pass next year.
Importantly, we also helped stop several bad bills from becoming law. Waterkeeper testified against a bill to create a so-called “regulatory sandbox,” in both the House and Senate. This bill would have given powerful corporate interests the opportunity to lobby a newly-created state office for exemptions from state law. It also threatened Missouri DNR’s authority to require water, air, and solid waste permits for companies engaged in “innovative business practices,” which the bill defined broadly and vaguely.
At the urging of Waterkeeper and other environmental groups, amendments from Sen. Doug Beck (D- St. Louis County) stripped the permitting language from the final version of this legislation. Thankfully, the House and Senate could not come to agreements on other key parts of this ill-considered bill, and it did not become law.
Perhaps the worst idea of the session emerged in its final weeks. HB 631 should have been a routine bill to allow Missouri DNR to continue to collect routine permit fees. Instead, it threatened to cost Missouri $4 million and close our eyes to the biggest sources of water pollution in our state. An anonymous change to the bill in the Senate would have removed nonpoint sources from the definition of “water contaminant source,” and hindered DNR’s ability to regulate pollutants from construction sites, industrial agriculture, and other diffuse sources of water pollution, which DNR considers “the greatest threat to our state’s waters.” This also would have threatened millions in funding DNR receives from the federal government to address these sources of water pollution. Thankfully, a full court press in the Senate from Waterkeeper and Missouri Sierra Club killed this bill, allowing a “clean” permit fee bill to pass attached to SB 109.
What We’re Looking Forward To
Dozens of other positive bills did not progress as far as our Rivers of Missouri Day resolution or HB 1129. There was a great deal of bipartisan focus on hazardous waste, particularly from representatives in the St. Louis region. Numerous bills would have modified provisions related to excavations on sites with hazardous waste (HB 1140, Rep. Clemens, D- St. Ann), disclosure of hazardous materials for renters or homebuyers (HB 1231, Rep. Applebaum, D- St. Louis County), and an alert system for hazardous waste release (HB 1358, Rep. Byrnes, R- Wentzville). Rep. Byrnes also carried a resolution (HCR 21) that urged the federal government to take action to compensate Missourians exposed to radioactive contamination as a result of the Manhattan Project. Fellow Republican Richard West, also of Wentzville joined Rep. Byrnes in this resolution, which passed two House committees. The number of these bills shows that there is a bipartisan focus on hazardous waste, which is especially heartening after 2022 saw hazardous waste rules weakened by backroom deals on the final day of the legislative session.
Positive bills were also filed on plastic waste from Rep. Burnett (D- Kansas City); ensuring public participation on the Missouri Clean Water Commission from Rep. Sauls (D- Independence); groundwater monitoring from Rep. Paula Brown (D- Hazelwood); and sunshine fees from Reps. Jeff Coleman (R- Grain Valley) and Sander (R- Lone Jack). While none of these bills made it to the house floor, we are hopeful they will receive more attention in the next session, and Waterkeeper will continue to support these, and other bills that support swimmable, fishable, drinkable water for all Missourians.
Charles Miller, Policy Manager
