Missouri Attorney General Opinions

Opinion letter to The Honorable Roger B. Wilson

Opinion letter to The Honorable Carole Roper Park

Opinion letter to John A. Pelzer

A Missouri citizen may use a loan acquired from a non resident alien to buy Missouri farm land when the loan is secured by a deed of trust. In the event of foreclosure, however, the trustee may not convey title to the alien lendor , his agent, trustee, or other fiduciary.

Opinion letter to Paula V. Smith

Section 476.515.2 of S.C.S.H.C.S.H.B. 1370, Eighty-Second General Assembly, Second Regular Session, which provides for benefits for surviving spouses of judges who have remarried and who were not eligible for such benefits prior to the amendment of Section 476.515, is unconstitutional and cannot be given effect. Furthermore, Section 476.515 may not be applied to a surviving spouse of a judge who remarried after October 1, 1984, if the deceased judge ceased to hold office prior to that date.

A parcel or locator number may incorporate by reference an accurate land description in the county recorder of deeds' office, and such constitutes an accurate description of the land for purposes of Section 137.225.2, RSMo 1978.

Missouri law requires the Department of Mental Health to provide special educational services to school-aged, inpatient children who reside outside the school district of their domicile and whose condition renders them unable to leave the Department of Mental Health facility to which they are assigned. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has the authority to monitor the provision of educational services by the Department of Mental Health, for compliance with the Education of the Handicapped Act. The Department of Mental Health is required to provide a “due process" hearing either prior to or following the discharge of a school-age child when the Department of Mental Health acts as the educational provider. If the Department of Mental Health is not acting as the educational provider, the local school district or the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, must provide such due process hearing. The Department of Mental Health need not continue treatment or care of school-age children discharged by the Department of Mental Health pending an “educational discharge" hearing. Section 162.970.4, RSMo, requires the Department of Mental Health to pay the serving district the amount by which the per pupil cost of special educational services exceeds the amount received from the domiciliary district and other state monies for severely handicapped school-age children in facilities or programs of the Department of Mental Health when the child is educated by the local district under Section 162.970.1, supra.

Members of the Missouri State Employees' Retirement System who terminate state employment on or after April 1, 1984, but before October 1, 1984, are not entitled to the benefit of the graded vesting schedule found at Section 104.335.3 S.C.S.H.C.S.H.B. of 1370, Gen. Ass., Reg. .

Water patrolmen have the authority to set up sobriety check points for investigatory stops to determine if boat operators are intoxicated during both daylight and night-time hours, provided that patrolmen do not board any boat for that purpose during nighttime hours. Water patrolmen also have the authority to ask boat operators for certificates of registration and to make arrests for equipment violations determined through observation at sobriety checks conducted during night-time hours.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Patrick Hickey

Opinion letter to The Honorable James F. Antonio,

Opinion letter to The Honorable James R. Strong

Opinion letter to The Honorable David Doctorian

For the purposes of Sections 105.300, et seq., RSMo Supp. 1983, providing for social security tax reporting a municipal judge selected pursuant to Section 479.020, RSMo 1978, is an employee of the municipality. Further, it would not be possible for a municipality to provide for municipal judge services on a contractual basis in a manner as to exempt the municipality from treating such person as an employee for social security reporting purposes.

Legal notices of elections on proposed constitutional amendments should be published for four (4) consecutive weeks in counties having but one newspaper, as is specified in Article , Section 2(b), Missouri Constitution.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Thomas I. Osborne

The State of Missouri has a demonstrable legal interest in the contents of safe-deposit boxes recovered from closed national banks that were located in Missouri prior to closing.

Opinion letter to Dr. Arthur L. Mallory

Opinion letter to Mary-Jean Hackwood

No violation of the Nursing Practice Act occurs when a certified medication technician, who does not hold himself out as a nurse licensed to practice in Missouri, provides care in an Adult Day Health Care Program that is also an Associated Adult Day Health Care Program, so long as the care associated with a licensed long-term care facility is restricted to the administration of medication, excluding injectables other than insulin.

Section 548.243, RSMo Supp. 1983, does not authorize the state to reimburse a sheriff for expenses incurred by an extradition agency in returning a fugitive to Missouri who has waived extradition; and, if the Governor appoints an extradition agency as an agent to receive a fugitive under Section 548.221, RSMo 1978, then such agency could be compensated by the state pursuant to Section 548.241, RSMo Supp. 1983, upon the approval of the Governor.

The Personnel Board of the City of Springfield is part of an administrative agency and, pursuant to Section 610.120, RSMo Supp. 1983, may have access to arrest records closed under Section 610.105, RSMo Supp. 1983.

The laws of the State of Missouri provide adequate authority to the Department of Natural Resources to carry out a program for the control of underground injection wells as described in the Program Description submitted to the EPA and as required by 40 Part 145.

A licensed optometrist may, in the course of examining the human eye, detect the existence of a pathological condition, defect, malfunction or malformation of the human eye. The Department of Social Services must accept the results of an optometric examination to determine a person's eligibility for benefits paid from state funds if the optometrist is authorized by law to perform the examination upon which eligibility is based.

Opinion letter to Dr. Arthur L. Mallory

Opinion letter to Mr. David A. Baird

Opinion letter to The Honorable David L. Steelman

A Missouri, not-for-profit corporation operating as a shelter for victims of domestic violence and receiving funds under Sections 455.200 to 455.230, RSMo Supp. 1983, may use such funds to establish a network of safe homes in private residences. Such funds may be used to provide medical and personal items if such are incident to the residential services and facilities provided by the shelter.

Opinion letter to Mr. Larry Ferrell

Opinion letter to The Honorable Harriett Woods

Opinion letter to The Honorable E. J. Cantrell

Opinion letter to The Honorable Nelson B. Tinnin

The Secretary of State may accept declarations of candidacy received by mail from circuit judges seeking retention pursuant to Article V, Section 25(c)(1), Missouri Constitution.

Opinion letter to The Honorable John A. Birch

Opinion letter to The Honorable Estil Fretwell

Opinion letter to The Honorable John A. Birch

Opinion letter to The Honorable

Opinion letter to The Honorable James F. Antonio,

Opinion letter to The Honorable James R. Strong

Opinion letter to Ed Daniel

The provisions of House Bill 175 ( General Assembly, First Regular Session), Section 535.300, RSMo Supp. 1983, are not applicable to non-dwelling unit rental property.

Public water supply districts organized under Sections 247.010 to 247.220, RSMo 1978, and Supp. 1983, are “special districts", under the definition of that term in Section 115.013(24), RSMo Supp. 1983, and must share election costs pursuant to Section 115.065, RSMo Supp. 1983, and the words “all costs" in Section 115.065.1 and 2, RSMo Supp. 1983, should be read as “all proportional costs" as defined in Section 115.065.4, RSMo Supp. 1983. Election authorities may not allocate the fixed costs of the election authority among special districts or political subdivisions which present questions or candidates in any election, pursuant to section 115.065, RSMo Supp. 1983.

Opinion letter to The Honorable M. Roger Carlin

Opinion letter to The Honorable Danny Staples

Opinion letter to The Honorable John D. Wiggins

Members of the Missouri State Employees' Retirement System who are retired and receiving benefits may be employed by a department, other than the General Assembly, on a part-time basis, i.e., less than fifteen hundred hours per year, and continue to receive retirement benefits.