By the time you read this, the 2026 Missouri Legislative session will be well underway. With 2026 being an election year, during which all state representative seats and 17 state senate seats are up for grabs, we have already seen more legislation filed in the first month of pre-filing than was filed during the last session. As a midterm election, the policies of the current state and federal administrations, along with their effects on voters, are front and center.

In the banking world, legislation has already been filed to allow credit unions to reduce membership fees, hold meetings electronically and expand their field of membership. The latter has already been met with fierce opposition from the banking community, leading the Senate bill sponsor to withdraw the bill and refile an updated version that addresses only fee reductions and online meetings.

MIBA played an instrumental role in this achievement through its efforts to educate the bill sponsor on the controversy and harm that the expansion of credit union memberships poses to community banks. We will continue to monitor this issue should it appear in the House or later in the session.

Additionally, with 10 Senate seats (including SD4-May, SD6-Bernskoetter, SD8-Cierpiot, SD14-Williams, SD16-Justin Brown, SD18-O’Laughlin, SD22-Coleman, SD28-Crawford, SD30-Hough and SD34-Luetkemeyer) and 42 House seats now vacant due to term limits or early retirements, we anticipate being actively involved in vetting candidates for most of the year. With Missouri’s 34 Senate seats and 163 House seats, nearly 30% of the Senate and 26% of the House will have new occupants by the end of the year, so we expect the MIBA PAC to be very active throughout this election cycle.

As always, we greatly appreciate the MIBA staff and your continued confidence in our abilities to represent your interests with the Missouri Legislature.