HB 2610 Missouri House · 2026 Regular Session

Modifies provisions regarding the State Legal Expense Fund

HB 2610 modifies Missouri's State Legal Expense Fund to expand coverage for specific health care providers facing legal claims. It directly affects state-employed physicians, nurses, dentists, and other licensed health professionals working in disability reviews, state correctional facilities, county jails, community health clinics, or schools under defined volunteer or contract arrangements. Key provisions set strict payment limits: $1 million per claimant for most providers (e.g., state-employed health staff), and $500,000 for volunteer services at community clinics or schools. The bill clarifies that volunteer services without compensation (excluding patient co-pays) qualify for fund coverage, while prohibiting the fund from covering abortion-related claims or services outside primary/preventive care.
Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Dec 2025
Committee Review
May 2026
House Passage
Mar 2026
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Dec 30, 2025 Last action May 7, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

House Committee Substitute Perfected · 3 edits
MINOR
The bill was finalized and reclassified from a 'House Committee Substitute' to 'Perfected' status, indicating it is ready for the next legislative stage. Substantive policy changes include the removal of a specific exemption for physicians conducting disability reviews for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the deletion of a $1 million cap on legal expense fund payments for certain medical claims. Conversely, new protections were added for physicians affiliated with city or county health departments and nonprofit community health centers, ensuring they are covered under the same legal expense fund limitations as other qualified providers.
Scope change
The bill's scope was narrowed by removing a specific exemption for state-employed disability reviewers and broadened by explicitly including physicians working for local health departments and nonprofit community health centers in the legal expense fund protections.
ELIGIBILITY

Deleted an exemption that excluded physicians conducting disability reviews for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education from specific legal protections.

Added explicit eligibility for physicians affiliated with city or county health departments and nonprofit community health centers to receive legal expense fund protections.

FISCAL

Removed a $1 million aggregate limit on payments from the state legal expense fund for claims arising from specific medical services.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the House by voice vote (no roll call recorded).
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
37
Key actions
13
Committee
15
May 7, 2026
Upper · Passed
Reported Do Pass (S)
upper
May 7, 2026
Upper · Passed
Voted Do Pass (S)
upper
Apr 28, 2026
Committee
Referred: Fiscal Oversight(S)
upper
Apr 28, 2026
Upper · Passed
Reported Do Pass (S)
upper
Apr 22, 2026
Upper · Passed
Voted Do Pass (S)
upper
Mar 31, 2026
Committee
Second read and referred: Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence(S)
upper
Mar 12, 2026
Lower · Passed
Third Read and Passed (H) - AYES: 139 NOES: 3 PRESENT: 0
lower
Mar 12, 2026
Lower · Passed
Reported Do Pass (H) - AYES: 8 NOES: 0 PRESENT: 0
lower
Mar 12, 2026
Lower · Passed
Voted Do Pass (H)
lower
Mar 11, 2026
Committee
Referred: Fiscal Review(H)
lower
Mar 10, 2026
Lower · Passed
Perfected with Amendments (H) - HA 1, adopted
lower
Mar 10, 2026
Lower · Passed
HCS Adopted (H)
lower
Feb 26, 2026
Lower · Passed
Reported Do Pass (H) - AYES: 6 NOES: 0 PRESENT: 0
lower
Feb 26, 2026
Lower · Passed
Voted Do Pass (H)
lower
Feb 18, 2026
Committee
Referred: Rules - Administrative(H)
lower
Feb 17, 2026
Lower · Passed
HCS Reported Do Pass (H) - AYES: 17 NOES: 0 PRESENT: 0
lower
Feb 17, 2026
Lower · Passed
HCS Voted Do Pass (H)
lower
Feb 5, 2026
Committee
Referred: Children and Families(H)
lower
Dec 30, 2025
Introduced
Prefiled (H)
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Jim Murphy
Jim Murphy
RRepublican
MO
94