SPONSOR: Veit
COMMITTEE ACTION: Voted "Do Pass" by the Standing Committee on Judiciary by a vote of 10 to 0.
This bill establishes the "Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act". The bill specifies the procedures and processes for the submission of a foreign subpoena that originates in a state other than Missouri, and the processes by which Missouri county clerks must administer foreign subpoenas.
These provisions apply to requests for discovery in cases pending August 28, 2026.
This bill is similar to HB 128 (2025) and HCS#2 HB 1886 (2024).
PROPONENTS: Supporters say that this speeds up the process and removes legal fees for taking depositions out of state. Without this bill, an attorney has to hire a different attorney to handle an out-of-state deposition and it becomes very costly; this bill makes it so attorneys can operate under normal procedures. Approximately 40 other states have adopted this type of legislation. Some cases handled by the Attorney General's Office relate to sexually violent predators and the attorneys in the office try to obtain information about treatments defendants received in other states; however, those records cannot be obtained from other states if they are not part of a national medical system. There are other states that are conducting investigations of other state government employees who work in Missouri, too, and it is difficult to obtain records from the other states and this bill makes it easier to deal with out-of- state subpoenas and depositions and it makes it easier to obtain records to move investigations along in a more expeditious way.
Testifying in person for the bill were Representative Veit; Gregory Goodwin, Missouri Attorney General's Office; and Arnie Dienoff.
OPPONENTS: There was no opposition voiced to the committee.
Written testimony has been submitted for this bill. The full written testimony and witnesses testifying online can be found under Testimony on the bill page on the House website.
Statutes affected: