Missouri senators say compromise on House Bill 495 advances; committee vote pending

Jefferson City — Sen. Nick Schroer, a Missouri state senator from Defiance, said this week that House Bill 495, a consolidated public-safety package that replaces bills 52 and 44, is moving through the legislature and now awaits a committee vote.

Schroer said the decision to take up the House bill rather than a Senate-authored bill came late in the process and reflected “the work that all of us were putting in,” according to remarks recorded at the state capitol. The measure is now slated for consideration by the Missouri Senate Fiscal Oversight Committee.

Why it matters: The bill would serve as this year’s public-safety legislation for the Missouri Legislature and—if it clears the fiscal oversight committee and the full Senate—could be sent back to the Missouri House of Representatives for further consideration. That procedural path means the timing and content of any final changes remain unsettled until the committee acts.

Sen. Steven Roberts, a Missouri state senator from St. Louis, said he helped produce a final compromise on the bill. Roberts said he and Sen. Karla May, also a Missouri state senator from St. Louis, negotiated “significant improvements” intended to improve public safety in the city of St. Louis.

The transcript of the remarks does not list specific text of those improvements or whether any amendments have been formally filed. No committee vote or floor vote was recorded in the remarks reviewed; the fiscal oversight committee vote is the next procedural step described.

Reporting from the state capital, Dean Morgan provided the account of the senators’ statements.