Missouri AG Opinions — 1988

1. In a first or second class county or in a third or fourth class county whose board of education has adopted written compliance with Section 302.272, RSMo Supp. 1988 , Section 167.242, RSMo Supp. 1988 exempts an individual transporting four or fewer students in a privately owned automobile from being licensed as a school bus operator or as a chauffeur while under contract to transport with a public school or the State Board of Education. 2. There is no requirement under Section 167.242 that the operator be paid compensation for the exemption to be applicable but the operator must have a legally valid contract to transport. 3. A public school district employee's contract would be considered a “contract to transport” under Section 167.242 only if it contained an express provision regarding the employee's responsibilities to transport school children. 4. In a first or second class county or in a third or fourth class county whose board of education has adopted written compliance with Section 302.272, Section 167.242 does not exempt an individual transporting four or fewer students in an automobile owned by the school district from being licensed as a school bus operator because the exemption applies only to automobiles which are privately, not publicly, owned; therefore, the operator would be required to obtain a school bus operator's permit.

Fees charged by educational entities to provide coursework for high school credit, delivered to students via interactive satellite communication systems, must be paid from either the free textbook fund or the incidental fund.

Opinion letter to Frank V. DiMaggio

The Public Administrator appointed for Buchanan County on June 19, 1987 is to be paid for 1987 a pro-rata portion of the four thousand dollars ($4,000.00) authorized by Section 473.739, RSMo 1986, based on the time served in office.

Under Section 115.291, RSMo 1986, a notary public, or any other person of the voter's choice, may assist a voter in voting his absentee ballot if the voter is blind, unable to read or write the English language or physically incapable of voting his ballot.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Fred B. Brummel

A private physician who, for compensation, furnishes medical consultant services to a facility of the Division of Family Services for three or four hours a week is “holding any other … employment under the state of Missouri” within the meaning of Section 191.400, RSMo 1986.

All funds received by a county from a sales tax imposed pursuant to Section 67.700, RSMo 1986, for the purpose of the construction of a county jail and sheriff's facility, and any interest earned upon the investment of such funds, must be expended solely for the construction, maintenance and utilization of such facility.

When a juvenile court, pursuant to Section 1 of House Substitute for Senate Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 622, General Assembly, Second Regular Session (1988) determines that its juvenile court personnel should be paid more than the state compensation provided in Section 211.381, RSMo 1986, and the county commission disagrees with the juvenile court's determination of the reasonableness of the additional compensation, the county must either provide for the payment of the additional compensation, obtain the consent of the circuit court to change or disapprove the request, or file a petition for review with the Judicial Finance Commission in accordance with Sections 50.640 and 477.600, RSMo 1986.

The word “expunged” used in Sections 144.380.1(2) and 143.902.1(2), House Bill No. 1335, General Assembly, Second Regular Session (1988), means striking out, blotting, obliterating or in any permanent manner completely concealing or excising a record or part of a record. Liens filed in error by the director of revenue are not to be released by the filing of a document subsequent to the recording of such liens because such liens are to be expunged, thereby leaving nothing to be released.

Opinion letter to Briney Welborn

Any increased compensation adopted by a county salary commission for the year 1988 pursuant to Conference Committee Substitute for House Committee Substitute for Senate Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 431, General Assembly, Second Regular Session (1988) is effective from the date it is adopted by the county salary commission.

Section 327.421, RSMo 1986, requires a county health board to hire a currently registered architect to prepare specifications used in the construction of an addition to its building.

A fourth class city does not have the authority to create and operate a toll street.

The special road districts created in 1919 in Ripley County, a non-township county, pursuant to Section 10464 of Chapter 102, RSMo 1909, are subject to the dissolution procedure set forth in Section 233.295, RSMo 1986, or, if the alternative form of county highway commission is adopted pursuant to Section 230.210, RSMo 1986, the special road districts are abolished under Section 230.225, RSMo 1986.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Danny Staples

Lethal injection may be used to carry out the execution of those sentenced to death prior to the effective date of Section 546.720 as enacted by Conference Committee Substitute for Senate Committee Substitute for House Committee Substitute for House Bills Nos. 1340 & 1348, General Assembly, Second Regular Session (1988).

Opinion letter to The Honorable E.J. Cantrell

Section 115.351, RSMo 1986, prevents a Republican candidate who was defeated in the primary election from filing as an independent candidate for the same office in the November general election.

Section 367.140, RSMo 1986 requires the Director of Finance to issue a certificate of registration to an applicant when the applicant has complied with the statutory conditions.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Delbert L. Scott

Opinion letter to Michael Reagen , Ph.D.

Settlement agreements entered into by public governmental bodies prior to September 28, 1987 as a final disposition to a legal action could have been closed and may remain closed subsequent to September 28, 1987, which is the effective date of the revised Sunshine Law; however, settlement agreements entered into subsequent to September 28, 1987 are to be made public at the conclusion of the litigation pursuant to Section 610.021(1), RSMo Supp. 1987.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Pat Danner

Opinion letter to Martin Mazzei

The Missouri School Boards' Association is a “quasi-public governmental body” as defined in Section 610.010(2), RSMo Supp. 1988 , and subject to the provisions of Chapter 610, RSMo, the Sunshine Law.

The provisions of Section 169.590, RSMo Supp. 1987, are not applicable to junior college districts.

Law enforcement officials may fingerprint and photograph a sixteen-year-old charged with a first offense of driving while intoxicated under Section 577.010, RSMo 1986, or an equivalent municipal ordinance, without authorization to do so by the juvenile judge, because the offense of driving while intoxicated, first offense, is not a felony, and is not within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court.

1. The state fire marshal has the authority to send an arson investigator to investigate a fire or to assist a fire district or department. 2. The fire chief of a district or department can request assistance from either the state fire marshal or local authorities in investigating a fire but cannot exclude any appropriate authority-either the fire marshal or local authorities with jurisdiction-from assisting/investigating if they so desire.

A city of the third class is not authorized to levy and collect a license tax on electricians, and a city of the third class is not authorized to regulate the business of electricians by requiring electricians to first obtain a license, the issuance of which is conditioned on the electrician satisfactorily passing a proficiency exam.

(1) A decision by the county commission to close the courthouse would be beyond its authority and thus void; however, the commission is not prohibited from reducing the number of hours each day the courthouse is open to the public, and (2) the county commission's failure to pay elected officials does not alleviate or affect the county's obligation to pay them.

Opinion letter to The Honorable Robert T. Johnson

Section 321.244, RSMo 1986, relating to voter-approved property tax increases for fire protection districts, excepts fire protection districts from the provisions of Section 137.073.5(2)(a) and (b), RSMo 1986.

Opinion letter to Richard Rice

An agency, in calculating the amount of military leave to which a state employee is entitled, pursuant to Section 105.270.1, RSMo 1986, should include all days from the time of the employee's departure until the time of his or her return, regardless of whether or not the employee was scheduled to work on all interim days or not, for a total of fifteen calendar days.

Opinion letter to C. Keith Schafer , Ed.D.

Opinion letter to Carl M. Koupal , Jr.

Pursuant to Section 190.050, RSMo 1986, a candidate for election to the initial or subsequent board of directors of an ambulance district should file his declaration of candidacy with the county clerk.

An ambulance district may not invest in mutual fund accounts.

The same person may not simultaneously hold both the office of presiding commissioner of a third class county and the office of alderman of a fourth class city within that county.

Pursuant to Section 320.230.2, RSMo 1986, the fire marshal, his assistants and investigators who have completed 240 hours of basic police training are peace officers with general police powers when investigating fire-related offenses. They are also considered peace officers when assaulted while engaged in the performance of their duties.

The Board of Cosmetology has the authority to issue a shop license to an individual renting space within a licensed cosmetology shop, which license is sometimes referred to as a booth rental license.

Opinion letter to D. Blunt

Opinion letter to D. Blunt

Opinion letter to D. Blunt

Pursuant to Section 115.607.1, RSMo 1986, a candidate for county committee who was not a registered voter for one year prior to the date of the election because said candidate had not attained the age of eighteen years one year prior to the date of the election is not a qualified candidate, and the election authority has the authority to withhold said candidate's name from the primary ballot.

Opinion letter to D. Blunt

Opinion letter to The Honorable Chuck Surface

The Department of Mental Health may not contract out the operation of a state-owned residential facility for the mentally ill to a private not-for-profit entity.

Opinion letter to Charles E. Kruse