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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Local governments will no longer be allowed to impose temporary bans on evictions, even during a public health emergency, under multiple bills signed by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson Tuesday.

“This puts the power in the hands of the General Assembly and the Governor right here if he wants to impose a moratorium on evictions,” said the bill’s house sponsor, State Rep. Chris Brown, R-Kansas City.

Brown pointed to the 2020 eviction moratorium imposed by the federal government in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Within that year, year-and-a-half time period, until the Supreme Court stepped in and stopped that, literally billions of dollars were lost to property owners, land lords big and small,” Brown said.

A report from JP Morgan polled more than 32-thousand rental owners who did report losing rental revenues in early 2020, but much of that was made back through rental relief programs, back-payments and cutting expenses.

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“This would leave vulnerable residents without any protections, exacerbating the already dire situation that many Missourians are facing,” said Michael Dreyer, who testified in opposition to the bill, HB 2062. “Furthermore, the bill would likely be in conflict with the legal authority of local governments to protect public health and welfare.”

Affordable Housing Policy Manager with Empower Missouri, Misha Smith, said they believe the ability of local governments to make the best decisions for their citizens in real-time is crucial in public health emergencies.

“This bill took away the ability of local governments to make decisions that are best for their communities,” Smith said. “The smaller areas are going to respond much differently than larger areas, where they’re going to have the greater impact and more people facing homelessness.”

Parson said he believes public health emergencies are best managed at the state level.

“I think there has to be a controlling authority over all things, I think that’s probably got us in trouble before when we were dealing with certain things in the state,” Parson said. “I think there has to be somebody to make the decision to make sure we’re uniform across the state.”

The new law takes effect at the end of August.