**Please note the new date and time for this hearing.** The Missouri House Conservation and Natural Resources Committee will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, January 23, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. in House Hearing Room 3 in the basement of the Missouri Capitol. (There will be three other bills, which have been previously heard, discussed for a vote at this time as well.)
Submit this form to provide spoken or written testimony for HB 2412. This form will also be available to those who attend the hearing.
There are more ways to help, too! Please read on:
Please contact members of the Missouri House Conservation and Natural Resources Committee, voice your support for HB 2412, and urge them to support it as well. Phone numbers and email addresses of the committee members are provided in the committee link above, and their email addresses are below:
Gary.Bonacker@house.mo.gov
Paula.Brown@house.mo.gov
Michael.Burton@house.mo.gov
Dane.Diehl@house.mo.gov
Jeff.Farnan@house.mo.gov
Willard.Haley@house.mo.gov
Doyle.Justus@house.mo.gov
Jeff.Knight@house.mo.gov
Don.Mayhew@house.mo.gov
Bridget.Walshmoore@house.mo.gov
Bruce.Sassmann@house.mo.gov
Mike.Stephens@house.mo.gov
Tim.Taylor@house.mo.gov
Eric.Woods@house.mo.gov
HB 2412 aims to prohibit future sales and intentional distribution in Missouri of five invasive plant species by repealing a section of Missouri State Statute 263.070 and replacing it with revised language. Specifically, the revised statute would withhold registration-inspection certification—which is necessary to sell plants—if a nursery or nursery dealer knowingly and intentionally sells or distributes burning bush (Euonymus alatus), Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana and its cultivars, including Bradford and Chanticleer), climbing euonymus (Euonymus fortunei; also known as wintercreeper); Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), and sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata).
If passed, enforcement may take effect January 1, 2026, with the exception that burning bush and Callery pear plants acquired by a licensed Missouri wholesale or retail plant nursery before January 1, 2025, would be exempt from enforcement until January 1, 2028.
This is an important opportunity to voice support for removing these five species from sale in Missouri.
