New Missouri laws address traffic, cybercrime and safety measures | #cybercrime | #infosec

Several Missouri laws addressing crime and public safety took effect Aug. 28, 2026, bringing changes involving critical infrastructure, traffic and boating safety, school buses, impaired driving, cybercrime, stalking, harassment, fraud, and offenses involving children.

The measures were enacted by the Missouri General Assembly. The following summarizes public safety provisions contained in the legislation. Complete statutory language is available through the Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate and through the individual statutory links below.

Critical infrastructure crime

Under Section 569.117, RSMo., a person commits the offense of damaging a critical infrastructure facility by acting purposely or recklessly. The statutory definition of a critical infrastructure facility is provided in Section 569.086.

Changes to Section 577.800, RSMo., governing the unlawful use of unmanned aircraft systems, add critical infrastructure facilities to locations where UAS flights below 400 feet are prohibited. The legislation also changes the capacity requirement for an “open air facility” to 500 people.

Traffic and boating changes

Changes to Missouri’s speed limit law under Section 304.010, RSMo., authorize the Missouri Department of Transportation to increase speed limits to 75 mph on all rural interstates. MoDOT must conduct a study before taking action, and any speed limit changes will occur at a later date.

School bus safety provisions affect Sections 302.302 and 304.070, RSMo. Under Section 302.302, five points will be assessed for a violation of Section 304.050.

Changes to Section 304.070 address the classification of convictions involving Section 304.050. If a person causes serious physical injury or death, the offense is classified as a class D felony. The legislation also establishes new fine and driver’s license suspension provisions through the Missouri Department of Revenue for repeat offenders. Additional provisions are contained in Section 304.050.

Missouri’s driving while intoxicated statute also changed. Under Section 577.010, RSMo., driving with criminal negligence in a manner that causes another individual’s death is classified as a class A felony.

Bently and Mason’s Law, contained in Section 454.1050, RSMo., establishes child maintenance requirements for individuals convicted under Section 577.010 or 577.012 when the criminal act causes the death of a parent. Maintenance is required until the child dies, marries, enters active-duty military service, or reaches age 18. Payments may continue beyond age 18 when the child attends an institution of higher education and may continue until age 21 under applicable provisions. The law also addresses children who are physically or mentally incapacitated.

Mason’s Law, under Section 301.287, RSMo., allows individuals to register with the Missouri Department of Revenue when they or a family member have a condition that could affect their ability to cooperate with law enforcement. That provision takes effect Jan. 1, 2027.

Changes involving boating safety identification cards under Section 306.127, RSMo., require individuals born on or after Jan. 1, 2006, to have a boater safety card to operate a boating vessel on all waters of the state.

RJ’s Law, established under Section 650.535, RSMo., creates an alert system for missing individuals with certain disabilities affecting mental cognition. The system is scheduled to take effect on or before July 1, 2027.

Offenses against individuals and sex crime changes

Missouri lawmakers also revised several statutes addressing harassment, stalking, cybercrime, intimate digital depictions, child welfare, and related offenses.

Changes to first- and second-degree harassment under Section 565.090, RSMo., and Section 565.091, RSMo., add levels of severity to harassment convictions when an individual has a prior offense. Those provisions take effect July 1, 2027.

Missouri’s first-degree stalking statute received a substantial rewrite under Section 565.225, RSMo., including provisions addressing technological abuse. The changes take effect July 1, 2027.

Second-degree stalking was similarly revised under Section 565.227, RSMo., with technological abuse incorporated into the statute. Those changes also take effect July 1, 2027.

A cyberharassment offense is established under Section 565.400, RSMo. The offense applies when an individual purposely or knowingly uses digital technology to engage in threatening, aggressive, or fear-inducing conduct. The provision takes effect July 1, 2027.

Under the new cyberstalking provisions in Section 565.405, RSMo., an individual commits an offense by purposely or knowingly using digital technology to engage in threatening, aggressive, or fear-inducing conduct intended to intimidate, track, or follow another individual or cause reasonable fear, alarm, anxiety, stress, or terror.

Missouri’s orders of protection statute under Section 455.050, RSMo., has also been expanded. Cyberstalking is added as an offense that may qualify an individual for a full order of protection.

A separate offense involving the disclosure of an intimate digital depiction under Section 573.570, RSMo., applies when an individual discloses an intimate digital depiction with the intent to harass, annoy, threaten, alarm, or cause substantial financial or reputational harm to the depicted individual. The statute also addresses circumstances in which the offender has actual knowledge that the disclosure will cause harm or recklessly disregards whether the disclosure will cause harm.

Missouri also created the offense of sadistic online exploitation under Section 573.575, RSMo. The offense applies when an individual uses the internet to manipulate, intimidate, hurt, frighten, control, or threaten someone into undergoing suffering for sadistic or sinister purposes.

Conduct covered by the law includes coercing an individual into self-harm, harming an animal or another individual, disclosing personal information, or engaging in suicidal actions or ideation. The statute also covers using nonphysical methods to extort someone into providing sexually explicit material that is then used for additional extortion, threats, or control. Using intimate depictions to demand money is also included.

Changes to Section 568.045, RSMo., governing endangering the welfare of a child, define a child for purposes of the statute as an individual younger than 18.

Missouri also established provisions addressing gift card fraud under Section 570.137, RSMo. An individual commits the offense by knowingly altering or tampering with a gift card or its packaging or by devising a deceptive scheme to obtain a gift card or gift card redemption information from a cardholder, issuer, or seller.

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