House sends multiple passed bills to Senate; Senate receives messages and adjourns until March 24, 2025

The Missouri State Senate received messages from the House of Representatives that the House had taken up and passed several bills, and the clerk asked the Senate to note the actions before the chamber adjourned.

"Madam president, I'm instructed by the House of Representatives to inform the Senate that the House has taken up and passed" several measures, Chief Clerk Joseph Engler read, including a House committee substitute for House Bill 643 "relating to establishment of certain entertainment districts," a set of bills addressing unlawful tracking of motor vehicles, House Bill 834 on professional registration, and a multi-bill employee compensation package for which an emergency clause was defeated.

The messages also included a request that the Senate consider concurrence with Senate Substitute No. 2 for House Bill 4, Engler said.

The presiding officer then moved that the Senate stand adjourn until Monday, March 24, 2025, at 4 p.m.; the motion carried by voice vote. The clerk read the House messages during a brief session and the adjournment was decided without a recorded roll-call tally.

Why it matters: Messages from the House formally notify the Senate of actions the House has taken and, in some cases, request Senate concurrence or further action. The items read to the Senate include policy areas — entertainment districts, criminal penalties for unlawful vehicle tracking, professional registration, and employee compensation — that would require further consideration if the Senate chooses to take up or act on them.

Details from the reading: the clerk read a "House committee substitute for House Bill 643" described in the message as relating to the establishment of certain entertainment districts. The clerk also read a set of bills described collectively as addressing "the offense of unlawful tracking of a motor vehicle with penalty provisions" listed in the transcript as House Bill numbers 971, 2903 and 978 (numbers as read in the transcript). House Bill 834 was described as "an act relating to professional registration." The clerk further read a multi-bill employee compensation package identified as "House Committee Substitute No. 2 for House Bills numbers 567, 5406, 7508 and 9508" in the reading; the clerk reported that an emergency clause attached to sections of that package was defeated.

The clerk's reading also included a formal transmittal line: "Senate Substitute number 2 for House Bill 4 in which the concurrence of the Senate is respectfully requested," signed by Joseph Engler, Chief Clerk.

What the record shows and what it does not: the House messages, as read to the Senate, report that the House passed the listed bills; the transcript does not include House vote tallies, the full bill texts, committee reports, nor any Senate debate on the measures. The adjournment was adopted by voice vote; no roll-call or member-level vote record appears in the transcript.

The Senate will reconvene on Monday, March 24, 2025, at 4 p.m., when members may take up business including consideration of messages received from the House.