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Read. Follow. Verify.Missouri grants legislative committee broad oversight and subpoena power over state agency guidance documents and internal policies
Last action · March 5, 2026: Reported Do Pass (H)Sponsor: Matthew Overcast
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What This Bill Would Do
House Bill 1641 expands the investigative authority of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules to review, audit, and issue notices of noncompliance for un agency s, policies, and directives that have binding effect or economic impacts exceeding two hundred fifty thousand dollars annually.
State agencies must file non-rule s and policies with the legislative oversight committee within ten days of issuance or face formal notices of noncompliance requiring written corrective action within thirty days.
Who It Would Affect
Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
state agencies
State agencies and departments are subject to committee reviews, subpoena powers, mandatory ten-day filings for non-rule guidance documents, and thirty-day response deadlines for notices of noncompliance.
Joint Committee on Administrative Rules
The committee receives expanded authority to initiate reviews, conduct audits, issue subpoenas, administer oaths, and report noncompliance to the general assembly.
Key Facts
- The committee may review and evaluate any rule, regulation, guidance document, program manual, policy, or directive issued or enforced by any state agency.
- The committee has the authority to issue subpoenas for the compulsory attendance of witnesses, including agency directors, officers, and employees, and for the production of records.
- The committee may issue a notice of noncompliance for rules, policies, or directives that exceed statutory authority or have unapproved fiscal or economic impacts exceeding two hundred fifty thousand dollars annually.
- Adopting agencies receiving a notice of noncompliance have thirty days to respond in writing indicating corrective action or justification.
Show all 7 facts
- Each state department must file with the committee a notice of any guidance document, directive, or policy of general applicability not promulgated as a rule under chapter 536 within ten days of issuance.
- The committee must submit an annual report to the general assembly listing each reviewed policy, findings of compliance or noncompliance, agency responses, and corrective actions taken.
- Standing committees of the house of representatives and the senate must consider committee reports and agency compliance during the appropriations process and when acting on legislative matters relating to the agency.
Frequently Asked Questions
What documents are state agencies required to file with the committee?
What happens when the committee issues a notice of noncompliance?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Currently in committee. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Floor Vote.
Procedural history
12 actions- Mar 5, 2026HouseCommitteeReported Do Pass (H)
- Mar 5, 2026HouseCommitteeVoted Do Pass (H)
- Mar 5, 2026HouseExecutive Session Completed (H)
- Mar 3, 2026HouseCommitteeReferred: Rules - Legislative(H)
- Feb 23, 2026HouseCommitteeHCS Reported Do Pass (H)
- Feb 19, 2026HouseCommitteeHCS Voted Do Pass (H)
Show 6 earlier actions
- Feb 19, 2026HouseExecutive Session Completed (H)
- Feb 12, 2026HousePublic Hearing Completed (H)
- Jan 8, 2026HouseCommitteeReferred: Government Efficiency(H)
- Jan 8, 2026HouseFloorRead Second Time (H)
- Jan 7, 2026HouseIntroducedRead First Time (H)
- Dec 1, 2025HouseIntroducedPrefiled (H)
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Expansion of Legislative Oversight into Informal Agency Directives
The bill bridges a traditional oversight gap by requiring state agencies to report internal guidance documents and policies that bypass formal administrative rulemaking procedures.
Connected Entities
Sources
house.mo.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance75How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy45Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz25Current news / social attention level
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