House OKs COVID liability bill in last hour of session

In the waning moments of the 2021 legislative session, the Missouri House passed a bill intended to protect health care workers, manufacturers and businesses from liability related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The bill had cleared the Senate in February following an all-night debate. Despite reservations in the House — which had championed an alternative version of the legislation and at one point killed the Senate’s bill in committee — the bill passed 97-57.

It was the last bill passed in the session, with the vote coming less than half an hour before the 6 p.m. May 14 constitutional deadline.

The bill would protect businesses and health care workers from personal injury lawsuits stemming from exposure to COVID-19, unless the plaintiff can show clear and convincing evidence of recklessness or willful misconduct.

It also would protect manufacturers of items used to combat COVID-19 from products liability suits. The protections would apply to companies that don’t normally make the product, as well as those whose manufacturing process had to be modified during the emergency or whose products were used in a different fashion than normal.

The bill now heads to Gov. Mike Parson, who has called on lawmakers to pass such legislation throughout the pandemic. Should he sign it, however, it would not go into effect until Aug. 28, as attempts to pass the bill on an emergency basis failed earlier this year.

To see the fate of other bills, see our online Tort Tracker.

The bill is SB 51.