Missouri Attorney General Opinions

Opinion letter to Briney Welborn

Any increased compensation adopted by a county salary commission for the year 1988 pursuant to Conference Committee Substitute for House Committee Substitute for Senate Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 431, General Assembly, Second Regular Session (1988) is effective from the date it is adopted by the county salary commission.

Section 327.421, RSMo 1986, requires a county health board to hire a currently registered architect to prepare specifications used in the construction of an addition to its building.

A fourth class city does not have the authority to create and operate a toll street.

The special road districts created in 1919 in Ripley County, a non-township county, pursuant to Section 10464 of Chapter 102, RSMo 1909, are subject to the dissolution procedure set forth in Section 233.295, RSMo 1986, or, if the alternative form of county highway commission is adopted pursuant to Section 230.210, RSMo 1986, the special road districts are abolished under Section 230.225, RSMo 1986.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Danny Staples

Lethal injection may be used to carry out the execution of those sentenced to death prior to the effective date of Section 546.720 as enacted by Conference Committee Substitute for Senate Committee Substitute for House Committee Substitute for House Bills Nos. 1340 & 1348, General Assembly, Second Regular Session (1988).

Opinion letter to The Honorable E.J. Cantrell

Section 115.351, RSMo 1986, prevents a Republican candidate who was defeated in the primary election from filing as an independent candidate for the same office in the November general election.

Section 367.140, RSMo 1986 requires the Director of Finance to issue a certificate of registration to an applicant when the applicant has complied with the statutory conditions.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Delbert L. Scott

Opinion letter to Michael Reagen , Ph.D.

Settlement agreements entered into by public governmental bodies prior to September 28, 1987 as a final disposition to a legal action could have been closed and may remain closed subsequent to September 28, 1987, which is the effective date of the revised Sunshine Law; however, settlement agreements entered into subsequent to September 28, 1987 are to be made public at the conclusion of the litigation pursuant to Section 610.021(1), RSMo Supp. 1987.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Pat Danner

Opinion letter to Martin Mazzei

The Missouri School Boards' Association is a “quasi-public governmental body” as defined in Section 610.010(2), RSMo Supp. 1988 , and subject to the provisions of Chapter 610, RSMo, the Sunshine Law.

The provisions of Section 169.590, RSMo Supp. 1987, are not applicable to junior college districts.

Law enforcement officials may fingerprint and photograph a sixteen-year-old charged with a first offense of driving while intoxicated under Section 577.010, RSMo 1986, or an equivalent municipal ordinance, without authorization to do so by the juvenile judge, because the offense of driving while intoxicated, first offense, is not a felony, and is not within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court.

1. The state fire marshal has the authority to send an arson investigator to investigate a fire or to assist a fire district or department. 2. The fire chief of a district or department can request assistance from either the state fire marshal or local authorities in investigating a fire but cannot exclude any appropriate authority-either the fire marshal or local authorities with jurisdiction-from assisting/investigating if they so desire.

A city of the third class is not authorized to levy and collect a license tax on electricians, and a city of the third class is not authorized to regulate the business of electricians by requiring electricians to first obtain a license, the issuance of which is conditioned on the electrician satisfactorily passing a proficiency exam.

(1) A decision by the county commission to close the courthouse would be beyond its authority and thus void; however, the commission is not prohibited from reducing the number of hours each day the courthouse is open to the public, and (2) the county commission's failure to pay elected officials does not alleviate or affect the county's obligation to pay them.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Robert T. Johnson

Section 321.244, RSMo 1986, relating to voter-approved property tax increases for fire protection districts, excepts fire protection districts from the provisions of Section 137.073.5(2)(a) and (b), RSMo 1986.

Opinion letter to Richard Rice

An agency, in calculating the amount of military leave to which a state employee is entitled, pursuant to Section 105.270.1, RSMo 1986, should include all days from the time of the employee's departure until the time of his or her return, regardless of whether or not the employee was scheduled to work on all interim days or not, for a total of fifteen calendar days.

Opinion letter to C. Keith Schafer , Ed.D.

Opinion letter to Carl M. Koupal , Jr.

Pursuant to Section 190.050, RSMo 1986, a candidate for election to the initial or subsequent board of directors of an ambulance district should file his declaration of candidacy with the county clerk.

An ambulance district may not invest in mutual fund accounts.

The same person may not simultaneously hold both the office of presiding commissioner of a third class county and the office of alderman of a fourth class city within that county.

Pursuant to Section 320.230.2, RSMo 1986, the fire marshal, his assistants and investigators who have completed 240 hours of basic police training are peace officers with general police powers when investigating fire-related offenses. They are also considered peace officers when assaulted while engaged in the performance of their duties.

The Board of Cosmetology has the authority to issue a shop license to an individual renting space within a licensed cosmetology shop, which license is sometimes referred to as a booth rental license.

Opinion letter to D. Blunt

Opinion letter to D. Blunt

Opinion letter to D. Blunt

Pursuant to Section 115.607.1, RSMo 1986, a candidate for county committee who was not a registered voter for one year prior to the date of the election because said candidate had not attained the age of eighteen years one year prior to the date of the election is not a qualified candidate, and the election authority has the authority to withhold said candidate's name from the primary ballot.

Opinion letter to D. Blunt

Opinion letter to The Honorable Chuck Surface

The Department of Mental Health may not contract out the operation of a state-owned residential facility for the mentally ill to a private not-for-profit entity.

Opinion letter to Charles E. Kruse

Opinion letter to The Honorable William E. Lewis

The Clay County Board of Election Commissioners has the authority to enter into a contract for the service and maintenance of voting machines and has the authority to enter into a contract to upgrade its computer equipment, the Board need not comply with any purchasing procedures applicable to county purchases or to city purchases, and both the city and county are liable for their proportionate share of the costs as provided in Section 115.073.1, RSMo 1986.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Michael P. David

(1) The property tax rate ceiling in 1989 for the Missouri History Museum Subdistrict of the Metropolitan Zoological Park and Museum District is based on the maximum authorized property tax rate in 1988 rather than the property tax rate actually levied in 1988, and (2) if the property tax rate levied for such subdistrict in 1989 is less than the 1989 tax rate ceiling, assuming no changes in its tax rate ceiling between 1989 and 1990, the tax rate may be raised in 1990 to the tax rate ceiling without voter approval.

Under Section 169.590, RSMo Supp. 1987, (1) a school district which provides group health insurance for its employees must offer the former employees who have retired and surviving spouses and surviving children of those former employees coverage under the school district's group policy at premiums equal to that charged for other members of the group, and (2) the retirees, their surviving spouses and their surviving children must pay the premium for such coverage and the school district cannot provide such health insurance coverage at no charge to those persons.

(1) When a vote is taken by a state licensing board to close an investigation prior to the filing of a complaint with the Administrative Hearing Commission and the vote is taken in a meeting closed pursuant to Section 610.021(14), RSMo Supp. 1987, there is no requirement that the vote to close the investigation be made public, (2) when a vote is taken by a state licensing board in a meeting closed under Section 610.021(1), RSMo Supp. 1987, to accept a settlement proposal or compromise a matter in litigation, including a matter before the Administrative Hearing Commission, and that vote finally disposes of the matter, all votes relating to that litigation taken after September 28, 1987, shall be made public, and (3) when state licensing boards use consultants to investigate complaints, such consultants are not employees as that term is used in Section 610.021(3), RSMo Supp. 1987.

While a school district is not a ‘committee’ as that term is defined in Section 130.011(7), RSMo 1986, it is a ‘person’ as that term is defined in Section 130.011(18), RSMo 1986, and is subject to certain disclosure requirements in the Campaign Finance Disclosure Law.