Missouri Senate gives first-round approval to utilities bill after pipeline-assessment language removed

The Missouri Senate on Thursday gave first-round approval to Senate Bill 4, a utilities bill sponsored by Senator Mike Thierpoy of Lee's Summit that senators said would modify and create new provisions relating to utilities.

Senate staff and floor comments recorded during debate showed that the bill’s pipeline-assessment chapter was removed during amendments on the floor. Senator Tracy McCreery of St. Louis County, who said she opposed the bill’s original version, said the bill had improved but still contained faults: "I think it's moved from a very terrible bill to just a bad bill. But there are some things in here that I think are gonna be helpful to consumers," McCreery said on the floor.

The change removing the pipeline-assessment language was noted during floor debate. The transcript records that the pipeline-assessment portion "is gone now" and that several senators had contacted leadership about that chapter. The removal narrows the bill’s scope compared with earlier versions discussed privately and publicly.

Senators did not provide a roll-call tally in the floor remarks excerpted in the transcript. The first-round approval moves the measure to the Missouri House of Representatives for further consideration if it receives a subsequent affirmative vote in the Senate.

No implementation details, effective dates or fiscal impacts were specified in the floor remarks captured in the transcript. The Senate debate, and the recorded removal of the pipeline-assessment chapter, suggest the bill remains subject to further amendments on later readings.