SPONSOR: Hovis
COMMITTEE ACTION: Voted "Do Pass with HCS" by the Standing Committee on Pensions by a vote of 12 to 0. Voted "Do Pass" by the Standing Committee on Rules-Administrative by a vote of 10 to 0.
The following is a summary of the House Committee Substitute for HBs 2884 & 1655.
Under current law, the Police Retirement System of the City of St. Louis is administered by a nine-member Board of Trustees consisting of the city comptroller serving ex officio, two members appointed by the mayor for two-year terms, three active commissioned police officers elected by active members of the retirement system, and three retired members elected by retired members of the system. Active and retired trustees serve staggered three-year terms. Elected active-duty officer trustees are entitled to compensated travel time, not to exceed 30 days per fiscal year, for participation in authorized board duties.
This bill modifies the appointment terms for mayoral appointees to the Board of Trustees of the Police Retirement System of the City of St. Louis. Beginning October 1, 2026, the bill requires the mayor to appoint one trustee to an initial one-year term and one trustee to an initial two-year term, after which all subsequent mayoral appointments will be for two-year terms (Section 86.213).
This bill authorizes a methodology for the board of trustees of the Missouri State Employees' Retirement System to recover any over payments made to a beneficiary in error, either in a single sum or in installment repayments until such over payment is made in full. Under current law, the board's recovery of the over payments made to a beneficiary is permissive (Sections 104.200 & 104.490 & 104.1060, RSMo.)
The bill reinstates the time period for a member to make an election to receive a lump sum payment of the member’s deferred annuity in lieu of retirement annuity benefits, under the closed plan or year 2000 plan, to on or after January 1, 2027. Under current law, the election can be made by the member beginning on a date established by the board under such plan, but not after May 31, 2018 (Section 104.1092). The bill prohibits the contribution or expenditure of funds of the retirement system, as that term is defined in the bill, to advocate, support, or oppose the passage or defeat of any ballot measure or the nomination or election of any candidate for public office. In addition, the system funds cannot be used to pay any debts or obligations of any committee supporting or opposing ballot measures or candidates. Systems may still educate and inform members about potential impacts to the system (Section 105.695).
The bill retains the existing board composition, continues the comptroller’s ex officio membership, maintains the election structure and term lengths for active and retired trustees, and continues the authorization for compensated travel time for active-duty trustees attending board functions.
The Board of Trustees for the St. Louis Public School retirement system was expanded to 13 people in 2025. Currently the requirement for passage of a decision by the trustees is six votes. This bill provides that seven members will constitute a quorum for any transaction of business and that actions and decisions of the Board require a vote of seven members during any meeting in which a quorum is present (Section 169.450).
This is similar to HB 3208(2026) and HCS HB 735 & 686 (2025).
The following is a summary of the public testimony from the committee hearing. The testimony was based on the introduced version of the bill
PROPONENTS: Supporters say that the current board has certain positions that were not filled in the past by the mayor and this bill won't change the number of members but merely takes the pressure off of when the appointments are filled. This will impact accountability and transparency to allow members to actually conduct business when the members are appointed over time so that if only one seat is vacant at a time.
Testifying in person for the bill were Representative Hovis and St Louis Police Retirement System.
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: