Governor Parson Signs House Bill 126 and Senate Bill 21

MAY 24, 2019

Jefferson City — This morning at the State Capitol, Governor Parson joined with House and Senate members and pro-life coalition leaders to sign House Bill 126. The bill was passed by super-majorities in both the House and the Senate.

“By signing this bill today, we are sending a strong signal to the nation that, in Missouri, we stand for life, protect women’s health, and advocate for the unborn,” said Governor Mike Parson. “All life has value and is worth protecting.”

HB 126, also known as the “Missouri Stands for the Unborn Act”, prohibits an abortion in a non-medical emergency past eight weeks of gestational age and ensures the protection of women’s safety. HB 126 prohibits an individual from performing or inducing an abortion solely because of a diagnosis of potential for Down Syndrome in an unborn child or because of the race or sex of the unborn child.

HB 126 contains an emergency clause that requires written notification of a parent or guardian by the custodial parent or guardian of consent for an abortion to be performed on a minor. The bill expands the definition of a pregnancy resource center for tax credit purposes to include facilities that provide assistance to families as well. In addition, this bill removes the sunset and cumulative tax credit cap beginning in FY 2021 and increases the pregnancy resource center tax credit from 50 percent to 70 percent beginning January 1, 2021.

The Governor encourages all Missourians to get involved in efforts to support life in their communities, whether that’s opening your family’s home to adoption to assist children in need, volunteering at your local pregnancy resource center, or joining with your faith community to provide the necessary support to help individuals choose life.

Governor Parson continued, “Thanks to decades of pro-life leadership, Missouri recently hit an all-time low for the number of abortions. We’ve gone from a high of more than 20,000 in our state, to now below 3,000. By working together, we can continue to assist more Missourians in choosing life.”

The Governor also signed SB 21, which adds the cities of Portageville, Riverside, and Fayette to the list of cities authorized to propose a sales tax for the purposes of improving public safety. The sales tax cannot exceed a rate of 0.5 percent. This bill also modifies the City Sales Tax Act to allow cities to propose a sales tax for general city purposes at a rate not to exceed one percent instead of at a rate of 0.5 percent, 0.875 percent, or 1 percent. SB 21 bill contains an emergency clause and will become law upon the Governor’s signature.