On July 14, 2025, Missouri Governor Kehoe signed Senate Bill 105 into law, halting the sale in Missouri of six invasive plants: sericea lespedeza, burning bush (‘Compactus’), Callery pear, Japanese honeysuckle, perilla mint, and wintercreeper (variety Coloratus).
The implementation date for the legislation is August 28, 2025. The legislation allows four plants in the bill to continue to be sold through January 1, 2027, and two others to be sold through January 1, 2029, to mitigate revenue loss for plant sellers who may have a current inventory of any of these species. Read all details in the final bill language here.
“The Missouri Invasive Plant Council is extremely pleased with this wonderful news and thanks Governor Kehoe and Missouri legislators for their support of this bill that will help protect Missouri’s working lands and native habitats,” said Carol Davit, Missouri Invasive Plant Council (MoIP) Chair.
Several years ago, MoIP, administered by the Missouri Prairie Foundation, proposed the idea of legislation to cease the sale of select invasive plants to reduce their negative impacts on Missouri’s landscape. MoIP invited feedback from nearly 100 stakeholder groups and tabulated feedback that was received to assess opinions in support or against inclusion of specific invasive plants on eventual state legislation.
In 2023, at his request, MoIP sent a list of invasive plants with broad stakeholder support to Missouri Representative Bruce Sassmann for inclusion in a bill he was sponsoring to halt the sale of select invasive plants. While his bill and a companion bill sponsored by Missouri Senator Mike Bernskoetter were not scheduled for floor votes during the 2024 legislative session, both legislators filed similar bills for the 2025 session, for which MoIP and other groups advocated.
MoIP thanks Governor Kehoe, Senator Bernskoetter, and Representative Sassmann for their leadership; the many citizens who contacted their Missouri representatives and senators in support of the bills; the numerous groups, including the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, Missouri Municipal League, Missouri Stream Teams United, the Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM), and The Nature Conservancy, who advocated for the legislation alongside MoIP and the Missouri Prairie Foundation; Missouri legislators who supported the bill; and Kyna Iman, CFM lobbyist, who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to build support for the bills in the Missouri Capitol.
