The bill, known as Bentley and Mason’s Law, is named after the two young boys who lost their parents in an April 2021 crash.
Under the proposal, if the offender is sentenced to jail, child support payments would begin one year after the offender’s release. Payments would end when the child turns 18 or 21, depending on the child’s age at the time of the parent’s death.
State Sen. Mike Henderson has carried the bill since the crash. The bill has been introduced in Missouri for several years without success, but there is currently no opposition to the measure.
“I just think that this is the right thing to do,” Henderson said.
Byrnes Mill Police Department Sgt. Cody Unfress was the first officer at the scene of the 2021 crash. He said the crash had a personal impact.
“It has affected me. And it has affected all those who were on scene that night,” Unfress said. “Because 34 years ago, I was that little boy sitting back there.”
Unfress said he was also orphaned by a drunk driver as a child. The crash scene was one of the first things he came across as a police officer out of training.
The sergeant now works as a specialist investigating these types of crashes, motivated by his own story and the boys.
Although the concept originated in Missouri, versions of Bentley and Mason’s Law have passed in six other states.
A family in Tennessee was the first to receive child support payments under the law.
According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Missouri ranks ninth in the country for driving under the influence cases.