Bill > HB3481

This bill modifies Supreme Court Rule 33.01, which governs conditions of release from custody in criminal proceedings, by changing how courts determine and impose these conditions. Previously, courts were required to prioritize non-monetary conditions before considering monetary ones, and monetary conditions could not be set higher than necessary to ensure appearance or public safety. The amendment grants courts more discretion, allowing them to impose monetary or non-monetary conditions as they see fit based on the individual circumstances of the defendant and the case, while still requiring them to give substantial weight to factors like prior criminal history, failure to appear, the seriousness of the current charge, and any known risk to public safety. Importantly, the court is no longer required to exhaust all non-monetary options before setting monetary conditions if it believes they are necessary to ensure the defendant's appearance and protect the public, and any discretion exercised by the court in this regard is presumed valid unless there's a clear abuse of discretion. The bill also clarifies that the court can order defendants to pay for certain release conditions, like electronic monitoring, but must consider minimizing costs and waive them for indigent defendants. This change will take effect on January 1, 2027.

https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB3481&year=2026&code=R