Missouri AG Opinions — 1972

Opinion letter to the Honorable Downing

School districts in St. Louis County, under the provisions of Section 92.350, RSMo 1969, must deduct the St. Louis City Earnings Tax from the wages and salaries of their employees who are residents of the City of St. Louis, and remit the amount withheld (less statutory allowances) to the St. Louis City Collector.

The cumulative period of both parole and probation of a person convicted of a misdemeanor, granted pursuant to Sections 549.071 and 549.101, RSMo, may not exceed the two year maximum set out in Section 549.071.

1. Tangible personal property consigned to a warehouse from an out-of-state point acquires a tax situs in this state when it is warehoused for the convenience of the owner of the property; 2. Goods that are shipped from different out-of-state sources and combined together as one item in the warehouse before being forwarded to an out-of-state consignee do acquire tax situs at the warehouse; 3. The documentary proof required to prove that shipments are in transit are those documents that, in the particular business involved, accurately reflect the destination or eventual sale or consignment of the goods; 4. To secure the exemption provided by Section 137.093, RSMo, bills of lading do not necessarily have to show shipments from the point of origin through a Missouri county to the final destination outside the state on one and the same document; 5. A public warehouse owner, when authorized to do so by the owner of tangible personal property consigned to his warehouse, may show documentary proof of in-transit status in the same manner as the actual owner of the goods and claim an exempt status for the owner; 6. The federal import exemption that applies to uncrated goods is binding on county assessors.

The county courts of third and fourth class counties who are conducting surface mining operations are not required to obtain permits under the provisions of Sections 444.760 through 444.786, RSMo Supp. 1971, because they are not "operators" as defined by Section 444.765(5).

Section 129.300, RSMo 1969, which requires the identification of persons publishing, circulating or distributing certain printed matter relative to the candidacy of any person seeking nomination or election to any public office applies to pamphlets, circulars , handbills and similar printed matter but does not apply to yard signs.

When a second class county which has adopted a charter form of government becomes a first class county it continues as a charter county.

1. A person whose name is written in on a ballot at the general election for city assessor in a third class city who receives a majority of the votes cast is elected city assessor. 2. The county assessor in a county of the third class can also hold the office of city assessor in a third class city.

Opinion letter to the Honorable Dan Harmon

1. A parole hearing may be had before officials of a receiving state pursuant to the Interstate Corrections Compact. 2. The Board of Probation and Parole of the State of Missouri may hold a parole interview or hearing in a state, other than Missouri, for an inmate sentenced to the Missouri Department of Corrections who has been transferred pursuant to the Interstate Corrections Compact. 3. The Director of the Department of Corrections may authorize the removal to the State of Missouri, for a parole interview or hearing, of an inmate who has been transferred to an institution without the State of Missouri pursuant to the Interstate Corrections Compact. 4. Parole interviews, or hearings, may be held before transfer for those inmates who are transferred to other states pursuant to the Interstate Corrections Compact.

A city is prohibited by Section 70.615, RSMo from establishing a pension and retirement fund for employees who are other than policemen or firemen on an independent basis and not under the Lagers Retirement Plan (Sections 70.600 to 70.760, RSMo 1969, as amended) other than the Federal Social Security Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance program, as amended, unless the city has an assessed valuation of at least forty million dollars and does not now have a pension system for its officers and employees adopted pursuant to state law.

(1) A duly elected town trustee forfeits his office by moving from the town of his election; (2) until his removal from the board of trustees, a nonresident trustee is a de facto officer and his official acts and decisions are valid; and, (3) Section 80.230, RSMo 1969 provides that all vacancies in the board of trustees shall be filled by the remaining members of the board, the chairman or temporary chairman not voting except in case of a tie.

Opinion letter to Dr. Arthur L. Mallory

Opinion letter to the Honorable William J. Esely

Opinion letter to the Honorable Robert B. Paden

Secretary of State should refuse to issue his certificate when examination of initiative petition shows such petition does not contain a constitutional enactment clause, does not contain a title, does not contain sufficient signatures or if the petition contains more than one amended and revised article of the Constitution or one new article which contains more than one subject. He has no power to determine the validity or genuiness of signatures on such petitions.

Opinion letter to Mr. John T. Wiley

The Board of the Metropolitan Zoological Park and Museum District of the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County is not authorized to fix a permanent levy rate under Section 184.350, RSMo, for each of the three subdistricts of such District but is authorized to fix an annual rate varying as may be necessary within the prescribed statutory limits. Such District Board has no regulatory control over subdistrict funds and has no supervisory control over the subdistrict officers, employees or operations. Such Board must honor proper subdistrict vouchers.

The county dog license fund established under the local option dog tax law (Sections 273.040 to 273.180, RSMo) shall be used only for the purpose of compensating persons who have suffered loss or damage through injury or killing by dogs of any livestock or poultry owned by them and located in said county at the time of such injury or killing.

Opinion letter to Mr. Clyde Burch

No person who establishes residence in Missouri 28 days or less prior to a primary or general election can register or vote in places where registration is required or vote in places where registration is not required at such ensuing primary or general election.

A county hospital organized under the provisions of Sections 205.160, RSMo 1969 et seq., has authority to furnish food at cost to certain "shut-ins".

Opinion letter to the Honorable R. J. Gordon

For the purposes of Section 362.107.2(4), RSMo Supp. 1971, which establishes a minimum distance between a drive-in facility of a bank and a main banking house of another banking institution, the distance between the bank facility and the competing main banking house should be measured along the shortest and straight line from the building of the main banking house devoted to banking activity to the building of the facility devoted to the banking activities permitted to be conducted at a facility.

Opinion letter to Dr. Arthur L. Mallory

Opinion letter to Dr. Arthur L. Mallory

House Bill No. 537 does not violate the provisions of Article X of the Missouri Constitution and is therefore not unconstitutional.

The American Party is not a “political party” on a statewide basis in Missouri and therefore cannot nominate presidential electors at a convention of such alleged party. It is the further opinion of this office that under Section 120.160, RSMo, a new political party can be formed and presidential electors nominated by filing the required petitions. Such petitions must be filed in the office of the Secretary of State no later than July 31 of even-numbered years.

Fire trucks and ambulances, whether publicly owned or privately owned, operated by a member of an organized fire department or ambulance association, may display lighted red lights, or, with a permit from the chief of the organized fire department or ambulance association, may display a flashing blue light when responding to an emergency call, and the operators of such vehicles may park irrespective of the provisions of Sections 304.014 to 304.026, RSMo 1969, with caution, disregard stop signals, speed limits, and regulations requiring parking and turning of vehicles in specified directions, but comply with all other traffic laws and regulations, and the operator of all other vehicles on a street or highway, shall yield the right-of-way when such vehicle approaches.

Opinion letter to Dr. Arthur L. Mallory

A third class city cannot levy a business license tax upon apartment buildings.

Opinion letter to the Honorable George W. Parker

Opinion letter to Dr. Arthur L. Mallory

Opinion letter to Mr. Robert E. Myers

The attached trust agreement between the State Treasurer and the Missouri Land Reclamation Commission covering moneys received by the Commission which are required as bond by Sections 444.772 and 444.778, RSMo Supp. 1971, is not in violation of Section 13 or 15 of Article IV, Constitution of Missouri.

Opinion letter to Mr. Henry Maddox

Opinion letter to Mr. Clifford L. Summers

Opinion letter to Mr. B. W. Robinson

Neither Chapter 382, RSMo 1969, the Insurance Holding Companies Act, nor Section 375.320 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri 1969, prohibits a domestic insurer from operating a subsidiary which it acquired on March 23, 1971, and which subsidiary was organized and incorporated for the purpose of engaging generally in the automobile salvage business to dispose of salvage obtained by the insurer in the ordinary course of its insurance business.

Opinion letter to Dr. Arthur L. Mallory

Section 307.365(5), RSMo Supp. 1971, dealing with the refunding of moneys for vehicle safety inspection stickers of those inspection stations which discontinue operation, are suspended or revoked, is applicable only to those inspection stations which discontinued operation, were suspended or revoked, after the effective date of Section 307.365(5), RSMo Supp. 1971, the day of September, 1971.

The state of Missouri acting through the Inter-Agency Council for Outdoor Recreation and the Missouri State Park Board, pursuant to Section 258.500, RSMo 1969, can agree under long-term contract with the United States to provide operation, maintenance and replacement of federally financed water control projects under the Federal Water Projects Recreation Act, 16 U.S.C.A., Sections -12 and 13, and further to agree to reimburse the federal government in those projects; that under present law neither the Council nor the Park Board has the authority to agree to hold and save the United States free from damages due to the construction works.

Opinion letter to the Honorable James C. Kirkpatrick

Opinion letter to the Honorable A. Basey Vanlandingham

1. Only a person duly registered as a land surveyor under Chapter 327, RSMo 1969, is qualified to be elected to the office of county surveyor. 2. County surveyors who were qualified for the office when elected continue to hold the office for the remainder of their terms. 3. County surveyors have authority to appoint a duly registered land surveyor as a deputy to perform work as a land surveyor. 4. The state land surveyor may in his discretion require land surveys to be made by a local registered land surveyor when no registered county surveyor exists. 5. The only compensation the county surveyor in third and fourth class counties is entitled to receive for his services, whether the work is performed by him or his deputy, is the compensation provided by statute for the county surveyor. Any compensation to the deputy for his services must come from the county surveyor.

The possession of " winemaking kits" fit for the use in the unlawful manufacture of intoxicating liquor, by business establishments or individuals who are not licensed by the state to manufacture intoxicating liquor, constitutes a violation of the Missouri Liquor Control law. However, this law does not prohibit the possession of winemaking equipment that is held for sale exclusively to businesses or individuals holding a state license to manufacture wine.

Rules and regulations proposed by the Commissioner of Finance providing that state banks and trust companies may purchase securities of a corporation carrying on a project which is predominantly service, community or public in nature when such purchase has been authorized by the Comptroller of the Currency as a proper investment for national banking associations are a valid exercise of his rule making authority and may be enacted if approved by the State Banking Board.

Section 118.510, RSMo 1969 is valid.

After a county library district has been in existence for five years there is no limitation on the frequency with which the proposition to reconsider a library district's tax rate can be submitted to the people at the annual election. Said annual election is the annual school election held on the first Tuesday in April of each year.

Counties may cooperate with each other and expend county funds under the provisions of Section 70.210, RSMo 1969 et seq., within appropriate limitations, by becoming members of an association of counties for the purposes of research in the field of local government, providing training for county officials, providing information for the efficient operation of county government and supporting or opposing legislation affecting such counties.