MCE and our partners made it through another legislative session with the Missouri General Assembly. We tracked several bills, some of which we worked to stop and others we advocated for their passage. You can see what happened to all of MCE’s priority bills in our 2021 Legislative Bill Tracker. Below is a summary of some of the bills we were most concerned about.
Wins on Our Side
- Food Security Task Force Bill (part of HB 432) – MCE helped draft this legislation and it passed! We have submitted recommendations for who should sit on this task force to ensure an entire food system approach is taken – address food security by connecting food insecure families with farmers growing nutritious food in Missouri.
- HB 369 – provided protections for landowners who allow prescribed burning on their property (good for forest health) and addressed concerns regarding the release of feral hogs (which destroy the environment). – Allows private landowners to obtain liability insurance for their prescribed burns.
We Helped Stop:
- An Extreme Attack on DNR – SB 40
- The Selling of 11 Point State Park – HB 1046
- The Ending of Eminent Domain for Grain Belt Express – HB 527 and SB 508
- Construction Work In Progress (CWIP) – HB 261
- Negative Changes to Conservation Commission – HJR 55
- Numerous Harms to Democracy – HJR 26
Unfortunate Bill Passings
- Ag Gag Legislation – HB 574 – Restricts inspection of livestock operations to certain federal/state agencies. This is another restriction on local public health agencies from protecting their local communities from health concerns found in agricultural operations.
- Attack on Property Assessment Clean Energy Act (PACE) – HB 697 passed, but in a changed version that is not nearly as detrimental to PACE as the original bill
- “Renewable” Natural Gas Program Created as part of HB 734 – This program allows methane gas from CAFOs to be considered a renewable energy source. This is by no means an environmentally responsible way to generate energy, as it relies on the existence of industrial animal agriculture facilities that pollute our air, water, and land.
- Conditional Ending of Emissions Testing for St. Charles, Franklin and Jefferson Counties – Passed the Senate in the middle of the night as part of Senate Substitute 2 for HB 661.
Thank you!
Because of MCE supporters, we can ensure our concerns are heard by our legislators and they know we are watching them closely. Sign up for our MO Leg e-alerts to stay informed of bills moving during the 2022 Legislative Session as well as consider donating today to support our action in the Capitol moving forward. This work never ends!