HB 648 Summary

• Replaces outdated terminology throughout Missouri law by changing "mentally retarded" and "handicapped" to "intellectual disability," "developmental disability," and "persons with a disability"

• Updates 81 sections of Missouri Revised Statutes related to mental health services, developmental disabilities, child welfare, and adoption to use person-first and respectful language

• Maintains all existing substantive provisions, protections, and procedures while modernizing terminology to reflect current disability services standards

• Adds anti-discrimination protections preventing disability from being used as sole basis to deny foster care, adoption eligibility, or child custody without specific causal relationship to harm

• Expands MO HealthNet Oversight Committee membership and adds provisions for Mental Health First Aid USA funding within the Mental Health Earnings Fund