HB 1313 — Disabled Veterans Preference for State Contracts. Requires the Commissioner of the Office of Administration to give preference to certain disabled veterans doing business as Missouri companies when awarding state contracts if the quality of work is equal or better and the price is the same or less. (Signed 6/13/08)

SS HB 1678 — Military Families, Tuition Grants for Veterans’ Survivors, and Interstate Compact Educational Opportunity for Military Children. Changes various laws regarding members of the military and their families. In its main provisions, the bill:

Allows a military dependent who has completed an accredited prekindergarten or kindergarten program in another state to enter kindergarten or first grade even if the child has not reached the required age for Missouri schools by August 1;

Authorizes the State Board of Education to develop recommendations regarding alternate assessments for military dependents who relocate to Missouri during the school year;

Requires the state board to establish a rule to allow the issuance of a provisional teacher’s certificate before the completion of a background check to the spouse of a military member who holds a teacher’s certificate in another state that requires a background check and who has relocated within the last year;

Allows school districts to accept a course in government completed in another state when a student transfers to a Missouri high school in ninth to twelfth grade to satisfy the state’s graduation requirement;

Allows the spouse and children of a soldier who was killed in action after September 11, 2001, or who became 80% disabled as the result of an injury sustained in combat action after September 11, 2001, to receive an educational grant for tuition at a public or private college or university in Missouri;

Renames the Guard at Home Program to the Hero at Home Program and extends the program to cover the first year after discharge from deployment, to cover reservists, and to cover situations in which an individual cannot return to his or her previous employment;

Specifies that military service and out-of-state employment, by itself, is not sufficient to justify a modification of a child custody or visitation order; and

Authorizes Missouri to enter into the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children and establishes the Interstate Commission on Educational Opportunity for Military Children.

Provisions of the bill regarding tuition grants will expire six years from the effective date. (Signed 6/11/08)

SCS HCS HB 2041 — Employment. (See Labor/Employment Law)

SCS SB 806 — Flying Flags at Half-Staff. (See State Government Law)

HCS SCS SB830 — Missouri Returning Heroes’ Education Act. Establishes the Missouri Returning Heroes’ Education Act which requires all public higher education institutions receiving state funds to limit the tuition charged to combat veterans for undergraduate studies to $50 per credit hour. Qualifications are specified. Eligibility for the reduced tuition will expire 10 years from the date of the veteran’s discharge. The veteran and the institution must report to the Coordinating Board of Higher Education within the Department of Higher Education any other eligible financial assistance, and the veteran cannot receive more than the actual cost of attendance from all assistance. (Signed 6/24/08)

SB 1073 — Sales and Use Tax Exemption for Certain United States Munitions List Items. (See Taxation Law)