JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Representative Ray Reed has introduced the Missouri Safer Communities Act (HB 2519), a comprehensive proposal to protect houses of worship, LGBTQ+ community centers, and other vulnerable institutions; strengthen hate-crime prevention; and ensure victims receive the support and dignity they deserve.
“At a time when fear and division too often threaten to pull us apart, the job of our leaders is to make us safer and to bring us together,” said Reed, D-St. Louis. “Every Missourian, no matter what you look like, where you come from, how you pray, or who you love, deserves to feel safe in your place of worship, in your neighborhood, and in your daily life. This bill is about reaffirming that promise.”
The Missouri Safer Communities Act includes the following major provisions:
-Strengthening Security for Vulnerable Institutions -Expands funding for the Missouri Nonprofit Security Grant Program to support synagogues, mosques, churches, temples, and LGBTQ+ community centers.
-Eligible grants may fund security cameras, reinforced doors, alarm systems, and trained security personnel during large gatherings or holidays.
-Improving Hate-Crime Prevention and Reporting -Requires every Missouri law enforcement agency to receive annual training in hate-crime identification, de-escalation, and victim assistance.
-Requires all Missouri law enforcement agencies that receive state funding to submit quarterly hate-crime data to the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Uniform Crime Reporting Division.
-Creating Accessible Reporting Tools
-Establishes a confidential, toll-free hotline and online portal for reporting hate crimes or threats directly to the Department of Public Safety.
Reports will be referred to local authorities within 48 hours and will be available in English, Spanish, and other commonly spoken languages.
-Preventing Radicalization and Violence
-Directs the Missouri Office of Homeland Security to coordinate with federal and local partners to monitor racially motivated violent extremism, issue an annual Missouri-specific threat assessment, and expand community-based education programs that help young people recognize online hate-recruitment tactics.
-Establishes a Missouri Hate Crime Victim Assistance Fund, administered by the Department of Social Services, to provide mental-health counseling, relocation assistance, and legal aid to victims and their families.
-Updates §557.035, RSMo, to explicitly include crimes motivated by sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and national origin, while reaffirming that protected speech is not criminalized under this section.
Reed also emphasized the bill’s role in responding to rising threats against Jewish communities and other faith-based institutions I the aftermath of the antisemitic attack in Australia earlier this month.
“An attack on a synagogue or any house of worship is an attack on our shared belief that everyone deserves to live and worship in peace,” he said. “This legislation makes clear that Missouri stands firmly against antisemitism and all forms of hate and that we will back that principle with meaningful action.”
“This bill doesn’t ask anyone to change who they are or what they believe,” Reed said. “It simply says that in Missouri, we look out for one another. We reject hatred and intimidation, and we choose a future where every family, in every community, can live without fear.”
The legislation will be considered in the upcoming session of the Missouri General Assembly.