Section 590.1300

Title XXXVIII CRIMES AND PUNISHMENT; PEACE OFFICERS AND PUBLIC DEFENDERS

Chapter 590

Effective - 28 Aug 2026, see footnote   

  590.1300.  Training program established, purpose — background check, application, physical fitness test — program requirements — rules — certificate — uniform — firearms — ranger deemed employee of school, when. — 1.  The POST commission shall establish a training program to be known as the "Missouri Rangers", and shall establish minimum standards for training instructors, training centers, and training programs that focus on preventing and responding to emergency or violent crisis situations in school settings.

  2.  (1)  Each person seeking entrance into the Missouri rangers training program shall submit an authorization for a criminal history background check to include the records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to the training center or training program where such person is seeking entrance.  The training center or training program shall cause a criminal history background check to be made and shall cause the resulting report to be forwarded to the agency where the applicant is seeking to be designated as a Missouri ranger.

  (2)  After a person has submitted an application, but prior to entry to the training program, each applicant shall take a physical fitness test:

  (a)  For applicants aged twenty-one to thirty-five:

  a.  Run one and one-half miles in less than twelve minutes and thirty seconds;

  b.  Complete a minimum of four pull-ups;

  c.  Complete a minimum of forty pushups in less than one minute; and

  d.  Complete fifty crunches in less than one minute;

  (b)  The POST commission shall promulgate lower age-appropriate standards for applicants aged thirty-six to forty-five and for applicants over the age of forty-six;

  (3)  No former or retired military personnel shall be admitted to a Missouri ranger training center or training program unless such person has received an honorable discharge.

  3.  The arrest powers granted to any person who successfully completes the Missouri rangers training program shall be limited to:

  (1)  Missouri rangers who are actively employed by the school or school district;

  (2)  Any property or premises owned, leased, rented, or possessed by the school or school district, including any school bus owned, operated, or contracted for in the service on behalf of the district while involved in school activities; and

  (3)  Offenses established under chapter 571 and any offense under section 569.140 or 569.155 involving school property.

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The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to any person who is an active law enforcement officer.

  4.  (1)  The POST commission shall develop a training program of not more than one hundred sixty hours that shall include close quarter combat; building security and hardening; bomb and arson; de-escalation; implicit and racial bias; active shooter training; preventative behavioral threat assessments; state and federal constitutional and statutory law relating to search and seizure, as relating to the arrests Missouri rangers are permitted to make; firearms training; defensive tactics; an abbreviated "stop the bleed" first-aid training; and any other related training deemed necessary by POST.

  (2)  The POST commission shall promulgate an abbreviated training program for applicants that are active or retired law enforcement officers, or active or retired military personnel, including active or retired members of the National Guard.  As used in this section, "retired" shall mean any law enforcement officer with ten or more years of experience.

  5.  The POST commission shall promulgate rules for continuing education training for all Missouri rangers.  Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, that is created under the authority delegated in this section shall become effective only if it complies with and is subject to all of the provisions of chapter 536 and, if applicable, section 536.028.  This section and chapter 536 are nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with the general assembly pursuant to chapter 536 to review, to delay the effective date, or to disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently held unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking authority and any rule proposed or adopted after August 28, 2026, shall be invalid and void.

  6.  The POST commission may develop a part-time training program, provided such program satisfies all of the requirements of this section.

  7.  A certificate of Missouri ranger training program completion may be issued to any applicant by any approved Missouri ranger training instructor.  On the certificate of program completion, the approved Missouri ranger training instructor shall affirm that the individual receiving instruction has taken and passed a Missouri ranger training program that meets the requirements of this section.  The instructor shall also provide a copy of such certificate to the director of the department of public safety.

  8.  Upon successful completion of the training program, each person shall receive a certificate and a Missouri ranger badge.

  9.  The front and back of the outermost garment of the ranger uniform shall have capitalized block letters spelling "RANGER".

  10.  (1)  Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections 6 and 7 of section 160.665, subdivision (10) of subsection 1 of section 571.030, subdivision (10) of subsection 1 of section 571.107, or any other provision of law to the contrary, a Missouri ranger may, if authorized by the hiring school or school district, carry a firearm or firearms, whether loaded or unloaded, or any other weapon readily capable of lethal use into the school, onto any school bus owned, operated, or contracted for by the school or school district, or onto any property or premises owned, leased, rented, or possessed by the school or school district.

  (2)  It shall be the decision of the hiring school or school district whether a ranger shall carry a firearm or firearms or any other weapon readily capable of lethal use as provided in subdivision (1) of this subsection while on duty, which type of firearm or firearms or any other weapon the ranger shall carry, and whether the firearm, firearms, or weapons shall be concealed.

  (3)  Each ranger shall use a level three retention holster if open carrying a pistol while on duty.

  11.  For the purpose^* of liability and workers' compensation only, Missouri rangers shall be considered employees of the school or school district that hires them.  All other benefits for which an employee of the school or school district may be eligible, such as health and retirement benefits, may be offered to the ranger at the discretion of the school or school district.  Rangers employed by a school or school district may be compensated as full- or part-time employees, or on a volunteer basis without compensation.  Qualified immunity and the public duty rule shall apply to the provisions of this section as interpreted by the federal and state courts.

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(L. 2026 S.B. 905 merged with S.B. 1421)

*Word "purposes" appears in original rolls of S.B. 905, 2026.

Severability clause, see § 1.1010