Rep. LaKeySha Bosley

Maddy summaryThis bill creates a new legal pathway allowing individuals to sue peace officers for constitutional rights violations. It removes common legal protections like qualified immunity and statutory limits on damages for these specific claims. The law also requires courts to award attorney fees to plaintiffs who win and mandates that employers generally cover any resulting costs, unless the officer acted without a good faith belief that their actions were lawful.

Maddy summaryHB 1599 establishes the Missouri Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act, which requires healthcare facilities to implement evidence-based implicit bias training for all staff involved in perinatal care. This mandatory program must cover topics such as unconscious biases, historical exclusion of minority communities, cultural identity, and health inequities, with providers required to complete initial training and refresher courses every two years. Additionally, the bill directs the state Department of Health and Senior Services to collect and publicly release data on severe maternal morbidity and pregnancy-related deaths at least once every three years, with statistics broken down by race and ethnicity and organized by region. The legislation also mandates the use of a specific electronic system for registering deaths to improve data accuracy and accessibility.

Maddy summaryThis bill establishes a system for local public health agencies to investigate and review infant deaths to help prevent future fatalities. It requires counties to report infant death data, which must be broken down by race and ethnicity, and mandates the creation of review committees in areas with high infant mortality rates. These committees will confidentially examine cases of stillbirth and early death, interview families, and offer grief counseling while protecting participant privacy from legal discovery. To support these efforts, the legislation creates a dedicated state fund and requires hospitals and other entities to share medical records with health agencies within thirty days of a request.

Maddy summaryHB 1597 amends the state legal expense fund to allow the state of Missouri to pay damages in lawsuits brought against various state employees and contracted health care providers. The bill specifically expands the fund's coverage to include physicians and other medical professionals who provide uncompensated primary care services to patients in state correctional facilities, county jails, schools, and community health centers. Under this legislation, the state would be liable for judgments resulting from claims against these individuals when they are performing official duties or providing free medical services under specific contracts. The law establishes financial caps on payments, limiting the total amount the fund can pay for a single claim or group of related claims to one million or five hundred thousand dollars depending on the provider category.

Maddy summaryHB 2633, known as the Missouri Chemical Label Integrity Act, would require businesses selling food products to place warning labels on items containing specific chemicals such as arsenic, lead, and certain food dyes. These labels must list the name of each unsafe chemical and describe potential health risks, including whether the substance is known to cause cancer, birth defects, or reproductive harm. The bill directly affects manufacturers and sellers of food by mandating these disclosures before the products reach consumers. Currently, the legislation is in its early stages of the legislative process and has not yet been enacted into law.

Maddy summaryThis bill requires Missouri school districts to make Black history and Black literature courses mandatory for high school graduation. It establishes a work group to create curriculum frameworks and sets academic performance standards for these subjects starting in the 2025-26 school year. Under the new rules, every student must earn one credit in Black history and one credit in Black literature after completing ninth grade to receive a diploma, though transfers from outside the state may qualify for a waiver if they have similar coursework.

Maddy summaryThis bill establishes a licensing system for individuals and businesses that sell firearm ammunition within the state, requiring them to be designated by the secretary of state as licensed ammunition sellers. The law creates specific exemptions for hunting clubs, target shooting facilities, and small-scale sellers who sell limited quantities to vendors, while also setting eligibility criteria that prohibit selling to anyone barred by law or court order. Key provisions mandate face-to-face transactions, require sellers to verify the identity of purchasers, and restrict the sale of ammunition from motorized vehicles or online orders unless the item is first delivered to a licensed seller for verification. Violations of these new regulations are classified as misdemeanors, with penalties varying based on the specific breach of the law.

Maddy summaryThis bill proposes a constitutional amendment to protect the right to own and carry firearms for self-defense and to assist civil authorities, while explicitly allowing local governments to regulate these rights within their borders. The amendment mandates that any restrictions on gun ownership must meet a high legal standard known as strict scrutiny and prohibits the state from refusing to protect these rights. Under the proposed text, counties and cities like St. Louis and Kansas City could enact ordinances to issue permits, charge fees, and set penalties for violations, provided they do not exceed specific limits on fines and jail time. The measure also includes exemptions for law enforcement, judges, and certain security personnel, and it maintains existing prohibitions on firearm possession for convicted violent felons and individuals deemed mentally dangerous.