SB 910 revises Missouri’s offense of abuse of an elderly person, a person with a disability, or a vulnerable person. The bill keeps the basic structure of the existing law but narrows and clarifies the conduct covered. It defines one form of abuse as a course of more than one incident of purposeful and unreasonable conduct that causes emotional distress, another as intentionally failing to provide reasonable care, goods, or services that results in actual physical or emotional distress, and a third as knowingly acting or failing to act in a way that creates a grave risk to the person’s life, body, or health.
The bill also adds a definition of “grave risk,” specifying that it means immediate, serious, or life-threatening situations with a high likelihood of death, severe bodily injury, or profound, lasting impairment to physical or mental health. In addition, it preserves the existing protection for people who choose spiritual means, such as prayer, instead of medical care, so long as that choice is supported by explicit consent, an advance directive, or established practice.
Impact
SB 910 would amend section 565.184, RSMo, by repealing and reenacting the statute governing abuse of elderly persons, persons with disabilities, and vulnerable persons. The bill changes the offense level from a class A misdemeanor to a class E felony, increasing the potential criminal penalty. It also refines the statutory language to require repeated conduct for emotional-distress abuse, to require actual physical or emotional distress for neglect-based abuse, and to limit the highest-risk category to grave-risk situations as specifically defined.
Sentiment
Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee testimony or votes, the measure appears to be a criminal-law clarification and penalty-enhancement bill rather than a controversial policy overhaul. The structure suggests support for stronger protection of vulnerable adults while also adding more precise standards to guide enforcement. No formal vote history or transcript comments are available to show organized opposition or support.
Contention
The main points of potential contention are the felony penalty increase and the narrowed definitions of abuse. Supporters would likely view the bill as strengthening protections for elderly, disabled, and vulnerable persons by making abuse easier to prosecute and by elevating the offense to a felony. Critics could focus on whether the new definitions are too broad or too vague, especially the “grave risk” standard and the emotional-distress language, or whether the bill could affect caregiving decisions. The spiritual-treatment exemption is another area that could draw attention, though the bill preserves existing protections rather than changing them.