Source: missouriindependent.com 4/22/26
A bill aimed at clarifying Missouri’s sex offender registry law — including when people convicted in other states must register here and when some offenders can ask to come off the list — cleared the House Tuesday.
The House voted 141-4 to approve the measure. Because amendments were added to the bill, which passed the Senate in March, it must return to the Senate for final approval before it can go to Gov. Mike Kehoe.
Republican state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman of Arnold, the sponsor of the bill, said the legislation is meant to resolve confusion created by a 2023 Missouri Supreme Court ruling and make the law more consistent for survivors, law enforcement and people required to register.
“We’re not changing what level of crime is on what level of registry,” Coleman said. “It’s just making sure that the divisions are all behaving uniformly, that victims can know what to expect and that once people are convicted, they know what to expect as well.”
Coleman said she doesn’t anticipate opposition when the bill returns to the Senate for final approval.
Congress has required states to maintain sex offender registries meeting minimum requirements since 1994 in order to receive federal funding.
Missouri required all convicted sex offenders to register for life until 2018, when the General Assembly passed legislation matching a 2006 federal law dividing sex offenses into three tiers, with separate minimum registration requirements for each. The change allowed people to petition courts to shorten their registration time if they…