The Missouri legislative session begins

Now that the 2024 legislative session has begun, I wanted to take a moment to say how honored I am to be your voice and conduit in state government. Our office works very hard to make sure our people are cared for all year long; it is of utmost importance to me. During session, I will also be working on policy changes that better the lives of all Missourians.

As always, I will provide regular updates on my proposed bills as we debate them and move them through the legislative process. This week I wanted to provide a brief summary on a few of my legislative priorities for session this year.

The first bill I filed this year will protect students by requiring private schools to disclose allegations of sexual misconduct against former teachers. Senate Bill 766 stipulates that schools that do not disclose such allegations when providing job references for such a former employee would be liable for damages to students who are found to be victims of sexual misconduct by that person and future employers of that person. Schools need to work together to break cycles of sexual misconduct and I believe the state can play a part in holding schools, and by extension, those guilty of this behavior accountable for their actions. We made this change a few years ago for public schools. After being contacted by a constituent this past summer and hearing their story, I knew that the same policy must be applied to private schools as well.

Another bill I am sponsoring aims to protect children by changing the marriage age to 18. The current law states that marriage licenses cannot be issued to those under 16, or to those under 18 if the other party is over 21. The law also currently states that any party to a marriage must have parental consent to obtain a marriage license. Senate Bill 767 repeals these provisions and simply states that no marriage license will be issued for individuals under 18 years of age.

You cannot enter into a contract legally until you are 18, an adult. This is one of the loopholes that child traffickers take advantage of in states that have lax marriage laws. I'm hopeful we can make this change this year.

I am proud that the previous two bills came from the work of the Missouri Council on Sex Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children, which was formed by a bill I sponsored last year.

I am also prioritizing legislation that would increase access to potentially beneficial healing therapies and treatments, including the use of psilocybin. Senate Bill 768 would allow Missouri military veterans to use this drug in a clinical setting for therapeutic use if they meet the qualifications established in the bill. The use of these alternative medicines has shown great promise in the treatment of PTSD. The bill would also authorize funding for grants that would go toward researching potential health benefits and efficacy of psilocybin use. If you ask me, we should be utilizing every possible remedy to provide the best health care and quality of life for those who have served in the armed forces. If this drug can be used safely to help people, we owe it to them to examine the potential.

More details about these bills and the others I have filed so far this session are available on my Senate webpage. I encourage you to learn about these bills and the hundreds of others that have been proposed by lawmakers. It will be a long process with a lot of ups and downs to get these across the finish line, but I am optimistic that at the end of the day Missouri's lawmakers can put aside our differences, find some common ground and make our constituents' lives better.

Holly Thompson Rehder (R-Scott City) represents District 27 in the Missouri Senate.