Kem Smith

Voted for House Bill 145, which closed several kinds of government records under Missouri's Sunshine Law. It closed individually identifiable information about minors held by cities, towns, villages and park boards, and the customer usage and billing records of municipal utilities. It also closed camping and lodging reservation details for public parks and the locations of endangered or imperiled species. Names, billing addresses and service dates for commercial utility accounts stay public. The bill widened the officials who can have their personal information stripped from public records to include prosecutors' employees, court clerks and juvenile officers. It also lets an agency treat a records request as withdrawn if the requester does not pay the fees within 90 days, or 150 days when the fees top $1,000. The Missouri House gave it final approval 107-50 and it became law.

May 12, 2025Opposes Anti-Corruption

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 30, 2026

Voted to pass HB 269. It would create three tax credits for child care: one for people and businesses that donate to a child care provider, one for employers that help staff pay for child care, and one for the providers themselves. Credits would be aimed at child care deserts, meaning areas with high poverty or few providers. The Missouri House passed it 120-34. The Senate did not vote on it, so it did not become law.

February 27, 2025Supports Cost of Living Reduction

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 7, 2026

Voted for House Bill 145, which closed several kinds of government records under Missouri's Sunshine Law. It closed individually identifiable information about minors held by cities, towns, villages and park boards, and the customer usage and billing records of municipal utilities. It also closed camping and lodging reservation details for public parks and the locations of endangered or imperiled species. Names, billing addresses and service dates for commercial utility accounts stay public. The bill widened the officials who can have their personal information stripped from public records to include prosecutors' employees, court clerks and juvenile officers. It also lets an agency treat a records request as withdrawn if the requester does not pay the fees within 90 days, or 150 days when the fees top $1,000. The Missouri House gave it final approval 107-50 and it became law.

May 12, 2025Supports Data Privacy

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 30, 2026

Voted to pass HB 126. It would end no-excuse absentee voting in Missouri. A voter would again have to give one of the reasons the law lists to vote absentee, and a voter casting a ballot in person during the absentee period would have to show photo identification. The Missouri House passed it 85-64. The Senate did not vote on it, so it did not become law.

April 14, 2025Opposes Civil Rights

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 7, 2026

Voted against House Bill 1, which redrew Missouri's eight congressional districts in the middle of the decade, replacing the map the legislature adopted after the 2020 census. Under the act, the new boundaries first apply at the election of the 120th Congress, the November 2026 election. The act repeals the sections holding the previous map, writes the new districts into law county by county, and directs the revisor of statutes to publish the official map. The Missouri House passed it 90-65 and the governor signed it into law.

September 9, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 30, 2026

Voted against House Joint Resolution 3, which would have added the “Protect Missouri Voters” amendment to the Missouri Constitution. Its central change was that a constitutional amendment proposed by initiative petition would have passed only if a majority of voters in every congressional district approved it, on top of the statewide majority required today. It would have barred a committee that spends on statewide ballot measures from knowingly or willfully taking money from a foreign national or a foreign adversary. It would separately have barred any foreign national or foreign adversary from giving to or spending on such a measure at all. A violation would have been a crime carrying up to a year in jail, a fine, or both, prosecuted only by the Attorney General. It would have made petition signature fraud a crime. It would have required at least one public hearing after an initiative petition's signatures were filed and before the measure reached the ballot. It would also have required the full text of an initiative measure to be given to every voter with their ballot. The Missouri House passed it 98-58. It went to Missouri voters as Amendment 4 at the August 4, 2026 primary election, and they rejected it.

September 9, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 30, 2026

Voted for Senate Bill 4, which let electric utilities charge customers for new natural gas power plants while the plants are still being built. That money must be refunded with interest if the spending turns out to be imprudent or the plant is not finished in a reasonable time. Gas, water and sewer utilities may now set rates from a forecast of the coming year instead of a past year. The act tightened the cap on how much a single rate case can raise revenue, from 2.5 to 2.25 percent. If the federal corporate income tax falls before 2030, regulators gain one-time authority to pass the savings through to electric rates; until they act, or instead of acting, the savings are set aside and credited in the utility's next rate case. Utilities themselves stay barred from the heating and cooling business, and the act struck the old affiliate exception from that ban. Affiliates and contractors may still sell those services under rules that keep utility assets and money separate, and a utility that hires heating and cooling contractors must open its qualification process to every contractor. It widened the ban on shutting off service in hot weather, added a cold-weather ban, and let regulators approve a discount for households with high utility bills. The Missouri House passed it 96-44 and it became law.

March 13, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 30, 2026

Voted against Senate Bill 152, which barred foreign nationals from funding or steering Missouri ballot measure campaigns. A foreign national may not contribute to, spend on, give in-kind support to, solicit money for, or take part in the decisions of a committee working on a ballot measure. Committees must get a written affirmation from anyone giving more than $2,000 that the donor is not a foreign national. A committee found in violation must refund or hand over the money within thirty days, and if it cannot, its directors and officers are personally liable for it. Damages can reach twice the amount, or three times that for a knowing violation. The Attorney General enforces the new sections, and the law switches off the Missouri Ethics Commission's usual complaint process for them. It also gives donors to tax-exempt organizations a right of privacy that limits what the Attorney General may collect or disclose. The Missouri House passed it 94-47 and it became law.

May 15, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 30, 2026

Voted against House Bill 594, which cut personal income tax by letting individuals deduct 100 percent of their capital gains starting with the 2025 tax year. The same deduction reaches corporations only if Missouri's top individual income tax rate first falls to 4.5 percent or less. The bill also exempted diapers, incontinence products and feminine hygiene products from state sales tax, and raised and inflation-indexed the property tax credit for seniors and disabled veterans. It let counties, ambulance districts and fire protection districts ask their own voters for higher local sales taxes. The Missouri House adopted the Senate's version 102-41 and it became law.

May 7, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 30, 2026

Voted against HB 1264. It would give a city or county thirty days to approve or deny a building permit request. If no answer came in thirty days the request would count as approved, and the local government could not then add requirements to it. The Missouri House passed it 96-37. The Senate did not vote on it, so it did not become law.

April 22, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 7, 2026

Voted against HB 918. In a lawsuit over harm from a product, it would require the injured person to prove the defendant made, sold or leased the exact product involved, not a similar one. A company whose product was not identified as the one used could not be held liable. The Missouri House passed it 94-57. The Senate did not vote on it, so it did not become law.

April 22, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 6, 2026

Voted against House Joint Resolution 73, which would repeal the reproductive-freedom right Missouri voters added to the state constitution in 2024. It would allow abortion only for a medical emergency, a fetal anomaly, rape or incest, and only through 12 weeks of pregnancy in cases of rape or incest. It would let the legislature regulate abortion providers and facilities, bar public funding except for a medical emergency, rape or incest, and require consent from both a minor and a parent. It would also ban gender transition surgery, cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers for anyone under 18. The Missouri House passed it 103-51. It takes effect only if Missouri voters approve it; a joint resolution needs no governor's signature.

April 17, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 30, 2026

Voted against HB 565. It would take ordinary carelessness off the list of exceptions to Missouri's shield against lawsuits over horse and livestock activities. A sponsor or owner could then be sued only for what is left, such as intentionally injuring someone, acting with willful disregard for safety, or ignoring a known hidden danger on the land. The Missouri House passed it 97-51. The Senate did not vote on it, so it did not become law.

April 10, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 6, 2026

Voted against HB 493. It would exempt certain used personal property from state sales tax. The Missouri House passed it 104-41. The Senate did not vote on it, so it did not become law.

April 7, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 7, 2026

Voted against HB 794. It would bar foreign nationals, foreign governments and foreign-owned entities from giving money to campaigns for or against Missouri ballot measures, including for polling, drafting and other preliminary work. It would also let each party name a challenger to watch absentee voting and ballot counting. The Missouri House passed it 99-48. The Senate did not vote on it, so it did not become law.

April 2, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 7, 2026

Voted against HB 437. It would rewrite the rules for settlement demands in injury and wrongful death claims. It sets what a demand must contain and when an insurer that turns one down can be made to pay more than the policy limit. The Missouri House passed it 96-52. The Senate did not vote on it, so it did not become law.

March 27, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 7, 2026

Voted against HB 1175. It would bring back the Second Amendment Preservation Act. The act declares certain federal gun laws invalid in Missouri and penalizes state and local police who help enforce them. A federal court had struck down the earlier version. The Missouri House passed it 100-51. The Senate did not vote on it, so it did not become law.

March 27, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 7, 2026

Voted against House Bill 567, which repealed Missouri's earned paid sick time law in full, the law voters approved as Proposition A in November 2024. It also ended the automatic inflation adjustment of the state minimum wage after 2024 and struck the yearly increases scheduled from 2027 on; the $13.75 rate for 2025 and the $15.00 rate for 2026 stayed in place. In the other direction, it extended the minimum wage law to public employers for the first time. The Missouri House passed it 96-51 and it became law.

March 13, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 30, 2026

Voted against House Bill 495, which put the St. Louis police department back under a state Board of Police Commissioners, whose members the governor appoints with the Senate's consent. It requires the city to spend a rising share of its general revenue on the force, reaching 25 percent in 2028. It requires every police agency in Missouri to report an arrested person's citizenship or immigration status to the state. It widened who can be paid for a wrongful conviction by dropping the rule that limited payments to DNA cases, and raised the amount to $179 a day, up to $65,000 a year. It capped jail and prison phone calls at 12 cents a minute, limited the restraint of pregnant and postpartum inmates, and added racial profiling, implicit bias and de-escalation training for new officers. The same act created a street-takeover offense, made organized retail theft a felony, and banned facilities for supervised drug use. It also repealed the rioting offense and the law letting the state bill prisoners for the cost of their incarceration. The Missouri House gave it final approval 113-39 and it became law.

March 12, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched August 30, 2026

Voted against HB 875. It would stop a public college or university from denying recognition, registration, funding or the use of its facilities to a student group because of the group's religious, political or ideological beliefs. The Missouri House passed it 108-47. The Senate did not vote on it, so it did not become law.

February 27, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 7, 2026

Voted against HB 742. It would bar any state department from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, staffing or other work, or on anything else that gives preferential treatment based on race, color, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation or ethnicity. The Missouri House passed it 108-50. The Senate did not vote on it, so it did not become law.

February 20, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 6, 2026

Voted against HB 544. It would make a pesticide label approved by the federal Environmental Protection Agency enough to satisfy any Missouri requirement for a cancer warning. That would block claims that a maker should have warned about cancer risk beyond what the federal label says. The Missouri House passed it 85-72. The Senate did not vote on it, so it did not become law.

February 20, 2025

Source: legiscan.com · researched September 6, 2026