Missouri Attorney General Opinions

Opinion letter to The Honorable Leary G. Skinner

The amendment of Section 205.190, RSMo Supp. 1981, by House Bill 1069, Second Regular Session, General Assembly, which provides for the office of treasurer of the county hospital board of trustees, does not affect the duty of the county treasurer with respect to general obligation bonds issued under Section 205.160, RSMo, but does place the responsibility for funds received from the issuance of revenue bonds and for revenue collected for payment of principal and interest, under Section 205.161, RSMo Supp. 1981, in the treasurer of the county hospital board of trustees.

The terms of office of incumbent members of the political party committees in the City of St. Louis are not affected by subsequent changes in ward boundary lines, and such persons continue to represent their wards as constituted at the time of their election.

Moneys received from the Fair Share Fund pursuant to Senate Committee Substitute for House Committee Substitute for House Bills Nos. 1548 and 1543 should be placed to the credit of the teacher's fund as provided in Section 165.011, RSMo 1978. There is no requirement that the money received from the Fair Share Fund be spent for teachers' salaries in the fiscal year in which it was appropriated.

Opinion letter to The Honorable James C. Kirkpatrick

The senatorial districts defined by the Judicial Commission Senate Plan, filed November 16, 1981, are to be used in determining senatorial district committees for the purpose of selecting party state committee members.

A physician who requires that his patient accept drugs dispensed by the physician and refuses to provide the patient a prescription for such drugs which can be filled at a pharmacy of the patient's choice may be in violation of the Missouri Antitrust Law and Section 334.100.2(5), RSMo Supp. 1981; a physician who instructs or requires a patient to use a pharmacy in which the physician has a financial interest to fill a drug prescription may be in violation of the Missouri Antitrust Law and Section 334.100.2(5), RSMo Supp. 1981; a physician may not delegate to any person other than a licensed physician or pharmacist the preparation or dispensing of a prescription drug, but may allow an unlicensed person to prepare and affix, under his supervision, the label for such prescription; and a physician may not prescribe a drug by its brand or trade name and then dispense a therapeutically equivalent generic drug in a container labeled with the brand or trade name.

The Missouri Housing Development Commission may contract for independent auditing or accounting services without the approval of the state auditor; is not subject to the rules and regulations concerning travel and subsistence expenses promulgated by the Office of Administration pursuant to Section 33.090, RSMo 1978, is not subject to the state purchasing act, Chapter 34, RSMo 1978; may enter into contracts with independent accounting and auditing personnel and may pay its executive director a salary higher than that specified in the Department of Consumer Affairs, Regulation and Licensing departmental plan; employees must be appointed through the merit system in accordance with (and with the exceptions noted in) Section 6, Appendix B(1), RSMo 1978.

Insurance companies and health services corporations issuing health insurance policies or contracts in this state are required to offer, as an optional coverage under such policies or contracts, benefits for residential and nonresidential treatment programs for alcoholism, chemical dependency and drug addiction.

Opinion letter to Dr. Arthur L. Mallory

(1) A licensed pharmacist may permit an unlicensed person to perform all steps incident to compounding, dispensing, labeling, and selling prescription drugs at retail, provided that the unlicensed person acts at all times in the presence of the licensed pharmacist and under his direct supervision. (2) A licensed pharmacist need not personally perform the selection from bulk inventory of the type, strength, and dosage of the drug prescribed, but must personally inspect and verify the accuracy and completeness of the label affixed to the prescription drug container and must verify the correctness of the contents of the drug container, before it is delivered or sold to the patient at retail. (3) A physician may only allow an unlicensed person to prepare and affix, under his supervision, the label required by law to a medication he dispenses, and must personally perform all other aspects of the compounding and dispensing of his own prescription medications. (4) The dispensing physician must personally perform the selection from inventory of the type, strength, and dosage of the drug he prescribed; he must personally verify the accuracy and completeness of the contents of the label affixed to the patient's prescription container; and he must personally verify that the drug in the prescription container is in fact the drug indicated upon the prescription label.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Hardin

Opinion letter to Dr. Arthur L. Mallory

The Office of Administration must pay a workers' compensation assessment assessed by the director of the Division of Insurance pursuant to Section 287.730, RSMo 1978, the Office of Administration must file a return with the director of the Division of Insurance similar to that required by Section 287.710, RSMo Supp. 1981, and the Office of Administration is required to pay the Second Injury Fund assessment established in Section 287.715, RSMo 1978.

A city-county library district organized under Chapter 182, RSMo, may borrow short term funds for operating expenses.

A petition by property owners to establish a special business district under Section 71.794, RSMo, cannot limit the authority of the district to levy taxes pursuant to Section 71.800, RSMo, although the district is not required to levy such taxes.

The proceeds received by the state in fiscal year 1981 from general obligation bonds issued by it constitute neither general nor special revenues of the state and are to be excluded from computations of total state revenue under Article X, Sections 16 to 24, Missouri Constitution.

The Department of Mental Health under Section 630.640, RSMo Supp. 1981, must require vendors receiving Department funds through contract to utilize Section 8 housing assistance payments (14 U.S.C. § 1437f ) before using state funds. However, because county or St. Louis City funds derived through Section 205.968, RSMo 1978 et seq., and philanthropic funds such as those received from the United Way or other fund raising activities, are not “public assistance benefits” for purposes of Section 630.640, RSMo Supp. 1981, the Department of Mental Health may not require such vendors to utilize these moneys before charging the state for client services.

Opinion letter to Fred A. Lafser

Where state senatorial districts have not been established by reapportionment for one year next before the general election, under Article , Section 6, Missouri Constitution, a candidate for the office of state senator must have resided for one year next before the day of election in some portion of any former district or districts from which the new district shall have been taken.

Section 204.051.3, RSMo 1978, does not allow the issuance of general permits as contemplated under 40 122.59. Section 204.051.3 does allow the issuance of general permits as provided in Clean Water Commission regulation 10 20-6.010. Sections 204.006 to 204.141, RSMo 1978, provide adequate authority to enforce any general permit issued pursuant to state law.

A county court, pursuant to a plan adopted in accordance with Section 231.441, RSMo, may require special road districts to provide matching funds in actual dollars or otherwise, in order to receive CART funds from the county in which the special road district is located.

Opinion letter to The Honorable James C. Kirkpatrick

Opinion letter to Dr. Arthur L. Mallory

Opinion letter to The Honorable Clarence H. Heflin

Opinion letter to Paul R. , Ph.D., M.P.A.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Vernon E. Bruckerhoff

An incorporated village may construct recreational facilities such as outdoor basketball or tennis courts with village funds and may lease property for this purpose from a church or not-for-profit civic organization.

A person who sells or offers for sale four or more mobile homes in any consecutive twelve-month period must register with the Public Service Commission as a dealer, pursuant to Chapter 700, RSMo 1978, regardless of whether such person owns the mobile homes he or she sells or whether such person merely acts as an agent for a mobile home owner who wishes to sell only one mobile home.

Opinion letter to Mary-Jean Hackwood

One or more cities and/or counties may enter into a contract for solid waste collection and for operation of a solid waste disposal facility. Cities and/or counties may not form a corporation to contract for and operate a solid waste disposal facility and may not jointly issue bonds to construct a solid waste processing facility.

The Board of Trustees of the Missouri State Employees' Retirement System may invest the funds of the system in the common stock of any corporation organized under the laws of the United States, or of any state, which has a good earnings growth but elects not to pay a cash dividend, subject to the limitations in Section 379.080.1, RSMo Supp. 1981, on the amount of stock purchased, which are enumerated in the body of this opinion. The Board of Trustees of the Missouri State Employees' Retirement System may also invest in the common stock of any solvent corporation organized under the laws of any territory or possession of the United States, or of the District of Columbia, or of Canada or any Canadian province, subject to the requirements expressed in Section 376.305, RSMo 1978, which are also enumerated in the body of this opinion. Both of the above permissible investments are subject to the prudent man rule regarding investments by trustees as expressed in Missouri court decisions.

Opinion letter to Edward D. Daniel

County funds generated by the collection of fees for violations of the general criminal laws of the state, pursuant to Section 590.140.1, RSMo 1978, may not be used to train municipal police officers.

Sections 115.063, RSMo 1978, and 115.065, RSMo Supp. 1981, require that the costs of an election for annexation of land to an ambulance district be borne by the county court which submits the question to the voters pursuant to Section 190.070, RSMo 1978.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Travis Morrison

The county clerk of a third class county must deliver to the mayor of any fourth class city within the county which does not elect an assessor a certified abstract from his assessment books of all property within the city subject to taxation by the state and the assessed value thereof and must perform this service without charge.

Persons engaged in professions or occupations other than those delineated in Section 356.020(2) may not form professional corporations under Chapter 356.

Opinion letter to The Honorable William Steinmetz

Opinion letter to John A. Pelzer

The time limits prescribed in Section 545.780, RSMo 1978, (1) do not apply to felony cases pending in associate circuit court awaiting preliminary hearings, (2) do apply to misdemeanor cases pending in associate circuit court awaiting trial, and (3) do not apply to ordinance violations where convictions have been obtained in the city’s municipal court and thereafter appealed to associate circuit court.

The board of directors of a sheltered workshop or residence facility may hold title to property. Such a board does not have authority to borrow money to purchase property and construct facilities.

The Department of Mental Health may discharge persons from its placement program pursuant to discharge procedures and criteria established in Chapters 632 and 633, RSMo Supp. 1981. An individual who meets the criteria for placement in a placement program but not the criteria for admission to facility hospitalization may not be transferred from the former to the latter. The department may not continue to serve persons in a placement program who do not qualify for such treatment.

Peace officers, upon request : (1) must release the names of juveniles involved in traffic accidents when such juveniles are not alleged to have violated any state or municipal traffic ordinances ore regulations in connection with such accidents; (2) must release the names of sixteen-year-old juveniles who are alleged to have violated non-felony state or municipal traffic ordinances or regulations in connection with a traffic accident; (3) may not release the names of juveniles who are alleged to have violated state or municipal traffic ordinances or regulations the violations of which are felonies; (4) may not release the names of juveniles under the age of sixteen who are alleged to have violated state or municipal traffic ordinances or violations; and (5) consistent with this opinion's holding on the release of names, must release other pertinent information concerning a traffic accident to inquiring parties.

The Land Reclamation Commission in implementing the Surface Coal Mining Law, Sections 444.800 to 444.940, RSMo Supp. 1981 , is subject to requirements of the Purchasing Law, Chapter 34, RSMo 1978.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Jack Goldman

The supervisor of the Division of Liquor Control may not issue a license for the sale of light wines not in excess of fourteen percent by weight by the drink at retail for consumption on the premises where sold in cities under 20,000 inhabitants or unincorporated areas outside the city limits unless a majority of the qualified voters of said city have authorized him to do so. The supervisor of the Division of Liquor Control retains his statutory discretion to issue a license for sale by the drink at retail for consumption on the premises where sold of light wines not in excess of fourteen percent in cities and unincorporated areas not within the purview of Section 311.090.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Lester R. Patterson

A judge who requests and receives a refund of retirement contributions as provided in subsection 4 of Section 476.585, RSMo Supp. 1981 , will not suffer any reduction or elimination of benefits on his or her own behalf or on behalf of a spouse under the provisions of Sections 476.535, 476.540 and 476.545 which they would otherwise be eligible to receive.

Under Section 168.221, a metropolitan school district (1) is not required to give a probationary teacher any reason for nonretention of the teacher for the subsequent school year, and (2) is not required to give a probationary teacher whose work has been determined unsatisfactory in March of a given year a statement of the reason or reasons for nonretention or a written statement setting forth the nature of the teacher's incompetency, or to allow the teacher a period of one semester within which to improve.