Missouri Organized Retail Theft and Repeat Violent Offender Enforcement Act

This bill awaits the Governor's action. Deadline: 2026-06-10 13:05:00 (UTC).

Voting is now open for 72 hours. - Ends (UTC): 2026-06-07T13:00:00Z Members may vote Aye, Nay, or Present. Results are visible in real time.

Debate is now open for this bill for 72 hours. - Begins (UTC): 2026-06-01T13:00:00Z - Ends (UTC): 2026-06-04T13:00:00Z Please keep discussion on-topic and substantive. After debate closes, voting will automatically begin.

This bill has been enacted via no action (pocket pass) at the Governor review deadline.

Result: passed. Aye (seats): 84 Nay (seats): 12 Present (seats): 4 Total seats: 100

Mr. President, organized retail theft is a real crime with real victims — the cashier whose hours get cut, the small business owner who can't absorb the loss, the neighborhood that loses one more place to shop. I'm not going to pretend enforcement doesn't matter. It does, and the sponsors are right to take this seriously. But I'd ask this body one practical question: are we buying the safest community we can with these dollars, or just the most punishment? The cheapest crime to fight is the one that never happens. A young person with a job and a mentor doesn't join a theft crew, and a returning citizen who can find work and housing doesn't cycle back through the same revolving door that drives the repeat offenses this bill is built to punish. My amendment doesn't shrink the grant program, redirect a dollar away from prosecutors, or touch a single enforcement provision. It adds a dedicated track for the work that stops crime before it reaches a courtroom — violence intervention, youth programs, treatment, and re-entry — with every dollar tracked and reported to the General Assembly alongside the case outcomes already in the bill. If prevention works, we'll have the numbers to prove it; if it doesn't, you'll know that too. We can take retail theft seriously and invest in keeping people out of the system in the first place. Those aren't competing goals — they're the same goal, reached from both ends. I urge adoption.

Mr. President, I stand in support for this bill today in front of the legislature. States across our Union need to take crime more seriously. Retail crimes like these raise prices for hardworking, law-abiding families, while also undermining business and jobs in areas that need investment the most. These crimes undermine our social fabric by eroding social trust and choking off access to basic goods for people who want to do business within the law. Criminals make it harder for folks to do their own legitimate business or work for someone else who wants to expand into their community. Furthermore, people committing crimes like these are very often committing more crimes. Assaults, carjackings, drug dealing, domestic violence, theft, murder, you name it. This isn’t the kind of thing you accidentally run afoul of while having fun on a regular afternoon. We need to act strongly to tackle this nation’s crime problem and ensure safety and prosperity for the people willing to take part fruitfully, in good faith, in our social contract. I yield.