Missouri Attorney General Opinions

Opinion letter to The Honorable

Opinion letter to Frederick A. Brunner

Organizations such as the American Legion, Elks Lodge and others which have tax exemptions recognized by the Internal Revenue Service under Section 501(c)(7) or Section 501(c)(8) and solicit funds for ‘charitable purposes’ by way of commonly used fund-raising methods are subject to the registration requirements of Sections 407.450 to 407.478, RSMo 1986, unless the solicitation of funds is limited to the membership of the organization itself.

A certificate of value required to be filed by a city or county ordinance is a public record under the Sunshine Law and is open to the public for inspection and copying.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Joseph R. Ortwerth

Opinion letter to D. Blunt

Opinion letter to The Honorable Jan Martinette

Section 205.210, RSMo 1986, prohibits Jackson County from appropriating money from its general revenue for county hospital purposes.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Bob Feigenbaum

Opinion letter to D. Blunt

The disposition of abandoned property delivered to the state pursuant to Missouri's Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act, Sections 447.500 through 447.585, RSMo 1986, is governed by the provisions of that Act, and is not subject to the provisions of Article IX, Section 5 of the Missouri Constitution.

The written permission referred to in the second sentence of Section 43.060.2, RSMo 1986, is the written permission of the Director of the Department of Public Safety, rather than the Missouri State Highways and Transportation Commission.

Opinion letter to Stanley M. Thompson

Money deposited as a cash bond during the course of legal proceedings is “intangible personal property” within the meaning of Section 447.532, RSMo 1986, and will become abandoned property subject to the provisions of Sections 447.500 through 447.585, RSMo 1986, if such money remains unclaimed for more than seven (7) years after the depositor became entitled to reclaim such money by reason of the fulfillment of the condition of the bond.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Frank

The State Board of Registration for the Healing Arts may, pursuant to Section 334.075, RSMo Supp. 1987, require continuing education for physicians to be completed over a time period in excess of one year.

A candidate for trustee of East Central College is not required by Section 178.820.5, RSMo 1986, to have been a voter of his or her particular subdistrict for at least one whole year next preceding the election.

An area agency on aging which is a not-for-profit corporation incorporated under Chapter 355, RSMo, comes within the provisions of Sections 610.010 through 610.030, RSMo, the Sunshine Law, because it is a “public governmental body” as defined in Section 610.010(2), RSMo Supp.1987.

Opinion letter to The Honorable George K. Hoblitzelle

The Missouri State Library, the libraries of Missouri public institutions of higher education and local public libraries formed under Chapter 182, RSMo 1986, can enter into the restrictions on the copying of records received from as those restrictions are set forth in Appendix 3 to the / agreement and in the Principles and Guidelines attached thereto without violating state laws regarding the availability of governmental records for copying by the public, but the aforementioned governmental entities may not enter into the hold harmless clause in paragraph 10 of Appendix 3 to the / agreement because to do so would be an unauthorized waiver of sovereign immunity.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Roger B. Wilson

The Boone County Commission is not authorized to call a nonbinding preference election on the sale or lease of Boone County Hospital.

The circuit clerk may not invest funds deposited into the registry of the circuit court in mutual funds.

A fourth class city may allocate funds to pay for attorney fees on behalf of the members of the board of aldermen and the mayor when they are sued in their official capacity under the facts described herein.

The amount of the bond of the county collector in a third class county where the county commission has required daily deposits may not be in a sum less than one-fourth of the largest amount collected during any one month of the year immediately preceding the county collector's election or appointment, plus ten percent of the amount.

Opinion letter to Hugh C. Harvey

Section 71.012 and Section 71.014, RSMo 1986, provide alternative methods of annexation. A city of the fourth class in St. Charles County has the option of proceeding under either of these sections.

Opinion letter to Gordon Rolla Upchurch

Opinion letter to The Honorable Molloy

Opinion letter to The Honorable Norman Merrell

Opinion letter to The Honorable Joseph L. Driskill

Opinion letter to Frederick A. Brunner, Ph.D., P.E.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Norman Merrell

Water patrolmen do not have jurisdiction on all waterways of this state but only upon the waterways enumerated in Section 306.165, RSMo 1986, as described herein. Their jurisdiction upon land is as described herein.

Opinion letter to The Honorable D. Blunt

Opinion letter to The Honorable D. Blunt

Opinion letter to The Honorable D. Blunt

1. The State Auditor is not permitted to conduct performance audits of the Department of Mental Health and its facilities, but may postaudit the financial condition of the Department and its facilities. 2. To the extent that records relate to the duty of the State Auditor to postaudit the financial condition of the Department of Mental Health and its facilities, the Office of the State Auditor is entitled under the provisions of Section 630.080, RSMo 1986, to receive access to the following records of the Department of Mental Health in its audit examination of the Department and its facilities: A. Patient medical records, except drug and alcohol abuse records subject to federal confidentiality regulations; B. Physician peer review minutes or records where review of patient care was the subject of the meeting; C. Abuse and neglect investigation reports; D. Records of patient death cases. 3. To the extent that records relate to the duty of the State Auditor to postaudit the financial condition of the Department of Mental Health and its facilities, the Office of the State Auditor is entitled under the provisions of Section 630.080, RSMo 1986, to receive access to records relating to litigation pending against the Department of Mental Health in its audit examination of the Department and its facilities. However, where the doctrine of attorney-client privilege or work product privilege is properly assertable in pending or imminent litigation, the State Auditor is not entitled to access to those records. 4. Any of the foregoing facilities to the State Auditor shall not be divulged by the State Auditor in such a way to reveal personally identifiable information, and the Office of the State Auditor is reminded of the confidentiality provisions of Sections 29.070 and 29.080, RSMo 1986.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Glenn H. Binger

Opinion letter to Thomas M. Johnson

Opinion letter to The Honorable Joe McCracken

In order for a person to be eligible for the office of sheriff under Section 57.010, RSMo 1986, such person need not have been a registered voter of that county for one whole year before filing for that office.

Opinion letter to Carl M. Koupal , Jr.

Opinion letter to The Honorable D. Blunt

The decision whether to enter into an agreement with other states for operation of a joint on-line game as discussed herein rests solely with the State Lottery Commission. Provided that the proposed joint on-line game complies with the restrictions in the Missouri Constitution and applicable state statutes, the State Lottery Commission is not foreclosed from participating in such multi-state game. These constitutional and statutory restrictions include, among others, the following: (1) Of moneys received from the sale of Missouri state lottery tickets a maximum of forty-five percent shall be awarded as prizes, a maximum of ten percent shall pay all commissions, administration and promotion costs, and a minimum of forty-five percent shall be deposited in the state treasury to the credit of the general revenue fund. (2) Advertising shall provide only statistical information setting forth the odds of winning and the average return on the dollar in prize money to the public and strict factual statements of (a) the time, date and place of conducting the lottery; (b) the prize structure; (c) the type of lottery game being conducted; (d) the price of tickets; and (e) the locations where tickets for the Missouri state lottery are sold. Advertising shall not be designed to induce persons to participate in the lottery.

Opinion letter to The Honorable John E. Scott

A member of the Board of Supervisors of a drainage district organized under Chapter 242, RSMo, may not accept pay for work such as contract mowing, brush clearing or other similar services.