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Missouri committee hears "Elijah's Law" to require childcare training on food-allergy response
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Summary
Missouri lawmakers reconsidered a bipartisan bill called "Elijah's Law" that would require the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to provide food-allergy response training to childcare facilities after a child died from anaphylaxis; sponsors said a standalone bill would be preferable to folding language into a large omnibus measure.
Representative Emily Weber and other sponsors pressed the House Health and Mental Health Committee on a measure dubbed "Elijah's Law," saying it would standardize training for childcare providers on recognizing and responding to food-allergy reactions. "Elijah was 3 years old when he unfortunately lost his life," Weber told the committee, describing a dairy-allergy reaction after a grilled-cheese sandwich and urging a statutory fix to prevent similar deaths.
Sponsors said the bill would require DESE to provide guidance and training materials to childcare settings rather than mandate that every facility stock epinephrine devices, a requirement the sponsors dropped because of the equipment's cost for some providers. "We would like to see this bill go further, and make sure that the child care facilities all have EpiPens as well, but we understand the financial burdens," Weber said.
Supporters framed the bill as a public-safety measure rather than a regulatory burden. Mandy Kearns, an early-childhood educator and parent, described teaching staff and training lapses she has seen and urged lawmakers to adopt uniform procedures. "This legislation, this isn't about policy. It's about saving lives," Kearns said in testimony.
Committee members asked whether updated language would capture modern epinephrine delivery systems beyond auto-injector brands and whether licensing rules from the Office of Childhood could accomplish the same result without new statute. Sponsors said they would work with regulatory staff and noted a Senate counterpart exists; they also said the proposal has cleared the House in prior sessions but stalled in the Senate.
The committee did not take a final vote on the standalone measureduring the public hearing; later in executive session the committee adopted and voted a substitute on a set of epinephrine-related bills (see "Votes at a glance"), and the chair indicated staff would continue working to reconcile delivery-system language and licensing concerns. The hearing record closed after supporters finished testimony.
The sponsors asked the committee to pass the bill so DESE can provide consistent training materials and so childcare staff statewide have clear steps to follow if a young child shows signs of anaphylaxis. The committee moved into executive session for related bills; no further action specific to the standalone "Elijah's Law" was recorded in the public hearing portion.
