Missouri Attorney General Opinions

Opinion letter to the Honorable James C. Kirkpatrick

Opinion letter to the Honorable John T. Russell

(1) Soil and water conservation districts, organized under the provisions of Chapter 278, RSMo, are not private corporations, but are public, political subdivisions of the state, and (2) Section 278.145, RSMo 1969, providing for aid to soil and water conservation districts from cities and counties, does not violate Article VI, Section 25, Missouri Constitution.

The term “reasonable cause to believe” as used in H.B. 578 is the equivalent of the term “suspected” as used in the Federal Register, Volume 39, No. 245, Section 1340.3-3(d)(2)(i).

Opinion letter to Dr. Arthur L. Mallory

The metropolitan police systems in St. Louis and Kansas City are “state agencies” within the meaning of Section 29.200, RSMo.

Opinion letter to Dr. Arthur L. Mallory

Opinion letter to the Honorable W. Swain Perkins

Opinion letter to the Honorable Frank

Employment "in any other school system," as that phrase is used in Section 168.104(5), RSMo 1969, includes any full-time teaching position, whether inside or outside of Missouri and whether in public or private schools. It includes teaching service in a junior college, four-year college, or university and in a bona fide early childhood or preschool program.

Opinion letter to the Honorable Kenneth J. Rothman , Honorable James P. Mulvaney and Honorable Wayne Goode

Opinion letter to Mr. James I. Kennedy

Opinion letter to Harold P. , M.D.

Opinion letter to Mr. Alfred C. Sikes

Opinion letter to the Honorable Jerold L. Drake

Under Section 104.380.1(1), RSMo Supp. 1973, the Director of the Department of Natural Resources, and not the Clean Water Commission, is the "head of the department" for purposes of retention of a director of staff to the Commission beyond normal retirement age.

Opinion letter to Mr. Edward A. Godar

No valid contract existed between a teacher and a board of education when the teacher failed to secure before the beginning of school the specific certificate that was an express condition of the contract. Since there was no valid contract between the teacher and the school board, the teacher's certificate of license to teach cannot be revoked because no valid contract was annulled when the teacher failed and refused to teach in a position for which he did not have a valid certificate of license.

Opinion letter to Dr. Jack Cross

Opinion letter to Dr. Arthur L. Mallory

Opinion letter to Harold P. , M.D.

Opinion letter to the Honorable Harold L. Lowenstein

The maximum amount of bonded indebtedness in 1975 is to be determined by the 1974 assessed valuation of tangible personal property although Senate Bill 333, General Assembly, Second Regular Session, excludes household goods from taxation beginning January 1975.

1) The scope of an audit requested pursuant to Section 29.230.2, RSMo, lays within the discretion of the State Auditor, provided that discretion is reasonably exercised; (2) the State Auditor is authorized to include those public offices in the City of St. Louis performing a function comparable to a county within an audit of the City of St. Louis, requested pursuant to Section 29.230.2, RSMo; and (3) there is no requirement that the political subdivision, which is to be audited, produce to the Auditor the receipt of the state collector showing that the cost of such audit has been paid to the collector.

Opinion letter to the Honorable A. J. Seier

The City of Farmington may impose user charges pursuant to Section 204.026 (18), RSMo Supp. 1973, to cover costs of operation and/or future expansion of a public sewer treatment facility constructed pursuant to a grant of federal funds under 33 U.S.C., Sections 1281-1292, without the necessity of an election as provided in Section 71.715, RSMo 1969.

Opinion letter to Mr. Michael D. Garrett

(1) The city of Holden may contribute funds to a multi-purpose watershed protection project six miles outside the city limits which includes recreational facilities pursuant to Section 278.145, RSMo, and (2) the city of Holden, Missouri, Johnson County, Missouri, and the South Fork of the Blackwater River Watershed Subdistrict have the authority to make relocation assistance payments pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 4601, et seq.

Opinion letter to the Honorable Christopher S. Bond

Qualifying school districts may place certain funds in savings accounts or certificates of deposit in insured savings and loan associations under the provisions of Section 369.194, RSMo Supp. 1973 and Section 165.051, RSMo.

(1) Department heads have authority under Senate Bill No. 1, General Assembly, to set the salary of division and other administrative positions subject to appropriations therefor. (2) The salary of the Adjutant General established by the first departmental plan filed before June 30, 1974, providing for a salary of $18,000.00 per year for the Adjutant General, constitutes the salary which the Adjutant General may be paid at present. The salary may be changed by a subsequent departmental plan.

Section 549.071, RSMo 1969, authorizes courts to grant extensions of paroles subject to statutory restrictions and authorizes such courts to grant terms of parole which extend beyond the original expiration date of a parolee's sentence.

Opinion letter to the Honorable Phillip H. Snowden

Opinion letter to the Honorable John W. , II

Opinion letter to Herbert R. Domke , M.D.

Opinion letter to the Honorable Robert 0. Snyder

In computing “the average cost of transporting all children of the district” and in computing “the additional cost of transporting handicapped and severely handicapped children” for the purposes of Section 162.985, RSMo 1973 Supp., all expenditures reasonably related to the school district’s transportation program should be included in the computation. The amount of additional state transportation aid authorized by Section 162.985, RSMo 1973 Supp., with respect to handicapped and severely handicapped children should be determined by the following formula: a district’s average cost of transporting a handicapped or severely handicapped child minus average per pupil cost of transporting all children in the district (handicapped, severely handicapped and non-handicapped) times the number of handicapped and severely handicapped children transported divided by two.

Opinion letter to the Honorable John W. , II

(1) The State Tax Commission has the authority and is obligated to equalize the assessments of property among the various counties and the City of St. Louis pursuant to Section 138.390, RSMo, and has the duty to order any county in which valuations of property are below 33 1/3% of true value to raise the valuation of such property to 33 1/3% of true value and to order any county in which valuations of property are above 33 1/3% of true value to lower the valuation of such property to 33 1/3% of true value. (2) The State Tax Commission has no authority to equalize the assessments among various parcels of property within a county as such, but individual assessments can be raised or lowered pursuant to Sections 138.380, 138.460, and 138.470, RSMo. (3) The State Auditor has no authority to compel the State Tax Commission to require the equalization of assessments among the various counties or the City of St. Louis at 33 1/3% of true value.

No merit status can be lost by the transfer or realignment of a unit or position under the Reorganization Act where the essential identity of the position or unit is retained and the position or unit was within merit coverage on the effective date of the Act. A position which was subject to the provisions of the merit system law on the effective date of the Reorganization Act cannot be named as one of three "exempt" positions by a division director under Section 13.1 of that Act.

Opinion letter to Mr. Paul W. Collins

Opinion letter to Mr. Edward A. Godar

Opinion letter to Mr. Mark L. Edelman

Opinion letter to the Honorable Howard M. Garrett

Opinion letter to Dr. Robert D. Elsea

Opinion letter to the Honorable Nelson B. Tinnin

Luncheon meetings of either the majority party members or of the minority party members of the St. Louis County Council, at which public business is discussed, are required to be open to the public under the Sunshine Bill.

Opinion letter to the Honorable Skelton

Opinion letter to the Honorable D. R. Osbourn

Opinion letter to Mr. George M. Camp