Missouri Legislative Session 2027: Bills Prefile Dec. 1, Opens Jan. 6

Missouri’s General Assembly convenes Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2027, and bills can be prefiled from Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2026, by our count of the rules on the Missouri Revisor of Statutes site. Article III, Section 20 of the Missouri Constitution sets the opening day as the first Wednesday after the first Monday in January, read Nov. 12, 2026. Every date on this page is worked out from those rules, and a free printable tracker lists them in order.

The 2027 spring break, the session calendar, the first-day schedule and hour, and the number of bills prefiled are not yet announced. The constitution sets days, not hours, so no convening time is given here.

Missouri legislative session 2027 dates, rule by rule

The Revisor of Statutes prints the rule, not the calendar date. Weekdays and dates below are our computation from each rule.

Date	Weekday	What it is	Rule
Dec. 1, 2026	Tuesday	Prefiling opens	RSMo 21.600
Jan. 6, 2027	Wednesday	General Assembly convenes	Art. III, Sec. 20
May 7, 2027	Friday	Appropriation bills: last day to take up, 6 p.m.	Art. III, Sec. 25
May 14, 2027	Friday	Bills left on the calendar are tabled, 6 p.m.	Art. III, Sec. 20(a)
May 30, 2027	Sunday	Adjournment at midnight	Art. III, Sec. 20(a)
July 14, 2027	Wednesday	Governor’s 45 days end (computed)	Art. III, Sec. 31
Aug. 28, 2027	Saturday	Laws take effect, 90 days after adjournment (computed)	Art. III, Sec. 29
Sept. 15, 2027	Wednesday	Veto session reconvenes	Art. III, Sec. 32

The July 14 and Aug. 28 dates are not printed on the Revisor’s pages. They count 45 and 90 days from May 30.

When does Missouri bill prefiling start and end?

The Revised Statutes of Missouri (RSMo) section 21.600 defines the filing period as the time “commencing on December first next preceding the opening day of the annual session” and continuing “up to but not including the opening day.” For 2027 that runs Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2026 through Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2027. Section 20 of the constitution also lets the legislature provide by law for introducing bills between Dec. 1 and opening day.

RSMo 21.610 says “a member or member-elect of the house of representatives may file a bill by mail or in person, according to appropriate rules of the house of representatives, with the clerk of the house at any time during the filing period.” Members-elect can therefore prefile before they are sworn in. The number of bills filed so far is not published in the sources read for this page.

When does the Missouri session end in 2027?

Article III, Section 20(a) says the General Assembly “shall adjourn at midnight on May thirtieth.” May 30, 2027 is a Sunday. Two cutoffs come first.

• Appropriation bills: no appropriation bill is taken up after 6 p.m. on the first Friday following the first Monday in May, which is Friday, May 7, 2027 by our count.
• All bills: those still on the calendar after 6 p.m. on the first Friday following the second Monday in May are tabled, which is Friday, May 14, 2027.

The constitution says the period from that Friday to May 30 is for enrolling, engrossing and the signing in open session of bills passed before 6 p.m. on the cutoff day.

What happens after adjournment: governor, veto session, effective date

While the General Assembly is in session, Section 31 gives the governor fifteen days after presentment to act. When it adjourns, or recesses for thirty days or more, the governor must return a bill within forty-five days. Counting from May 30, that is Wednesday, July 14, 2027.

Section 32 has the General Assembly automatically reconvene on the first Wednesday following the second Monday in September, for no more than ten calendar days, “for the sole purpose of considering bills returned by the governor.” In 2027 that is Wednesday, Sept. 15.

Section 29 says laws take effect ninety days after the session adjourns, with emergency clauses aside. Ninety days after May 30 is Saturday, Aug. 28, 2027.

How does 2027 compare with the 2026 start date?

The same rule gave a different day last year. In a Dec. 12, 2025 release, the Missouri Senate said the 2026 session was “set to officially kick off on Jan. 7.” The 2027 opening is one day earlier in the month, Jan. 6, because the first Monday falls on Jan. 4 instead of Jan. 5.

Print the Missouri General Assembly 2027 session tracker

The free tracker puts the eight dates above in order, with days left to adjournment and a box to check off each. Pair it with a December 2026 calendar, a January 2027 calendar or a May 2027 calendar. Other legislatures run on different schedules: see the Kentucky General Assembly 2027 session, the Nebraska Legislature 2027 session and the Oklahoma Legislature 2027 session.