Unidentified senator introduces Youth Mental Health Preservation Act to allow licensure review over conversion therapy

An unnamed senator filed the Youth Mental Health Preservation Act on the Senate floor, saying the bill would permit professional licensure review of mental-health professionals in Missouri who engage in conversion therapy with minors.

The sponsor described conversion therapy as a practice condemned by major professional organizations and said it can include techniques "ranging from shaming to hypnosis to inducing vomiting or electric shock," and asserted the practice increases risks of depression, social withdrawal and suicidality. The sponsor cited the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Counseling Association and the National Association of Social Workers as organizations that have condemned conversion therapy.

Madam Secretary subsequently read the bill into the record as Senate Bill 15 41, labeled "an act relating to conversion therapy for minors." The sponsor framed the proposal as a child-protection measure aimed at ensuring therapists licensed by the state provide competent care and do not produce harm.

The transcript records the bill's introduction and the sponsor's remarks but does not record legislative debate, formal referral to committee, or a vote on the measure. The bill's next procedural step — committee referral, assignment of a committee hearing date, or referral to interim study — was not specified on the floor during this session.

The Senate adjourned for the day and is scheduled to reconvene on Tuesday, January 13 at 2 p.m.; any committee referral or scheduling for SB 15 41 will appear in subsequent legislative notices.