JEFFERSON CITY • A plan to loosen mandatory minimum sentencing laws for many nonviolent criminals won preliminary approval Tuesday in the Missouri House.

The legislation would allow judges to make exceptions to a state law requiring offenders to serve 40, 50 or 80 percent of their prison terms, depending on whether they have previous prison convictions.

Rep. Cody Smith, R-Carthage, who is sponsoring the proposal, said judges would instead weigh the person’s character, chances of rehabilitation and whether a mandatory minimum prison term was necessary to protect the public.

Inmates could not be granted shorter sentences for offenses involving serious physical force, firearms or most sexual crimes.

Estimates show the changes could save the state up to $3 million by 2023 based on the number of offenders who don’t serve a minimum sentence and the reduced number of years.

The Missouri Department of Corrections estimates that out of the 1,773 offenders who had been required to serve a minimum prison term last year, 552 — or 31 percent — could be released earlier.