Case Summary for September 15, 2016

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Case Summary for September 15, 2016

THE FOLLOWING DOCKET SUMMARIES ARE PREPARED BY THE COURT'S STAFF FOR THE INTEREST AND CONVENIENCE OF THE READER. THE SUMMARIES MAY NOT INCLUDE ALL ISSUES PENDING BEFORE THE COURT AND DO NOT REFLECT ANY OPINION OF THE COURT ON THE MERITS OF A CASE. COPIES OF ALL BRIEFS FILED WITH THE COURT ARE AVAILABLE AT THE SUPREME COURT BUILDING, COURT EN BANC DIVISION. SUMMARIES ARE UNOFFICIAL AND SHOULD NOT BE QUOTED OR CITED.

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DOCKET SUMMARIES
SUPREME COURT OF MISSOURI

9 a.m. Thursday, September 15, 2016
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

SC95924
Jim Boeving, Patty Arrowood, Robert E. Pund and Robert A. Klein v. Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander and Raise Your Hand for Kids and Erin Brower v. State of Missouri
Cole County
Challenge to certification and validity of initiative petition
Listen to the oral argument:

SC95924.mp3
Boeving and Arrowood were represented during arguments by Charles W. Hatfield of Stinson Leonard Street LLP in Jefferson City; Pund and Klein were represented by Heidi Doerhoff Vollet of Cook, Vetter, Doerhoff & Landwehr PC in Jefferson City; the secretary of state was represented during arguments by Solicitor General James R. Layton of the attorney general’s office in Jefferson City; and Raise Your Hand for Kids and Brower were represented by Jane E. Dueker of Spencer Fane LLP in St. Louis.

Judge James M. Dowd – a judge on the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District – sat in this case by special designation in place of Judge Laura Denvir Stith.

In May 2016, Raise Your Hand for Kids submitted to the secretary of state initiative petition 2016-152, which proposes a constitutional amendment to support early childhood health and education, funded through increases to Missouri’s cigarette tax. After the deadline passed for submitting initiative petition signatures to the secretary of state, the court of appeals modified the proposed measure’s official ballot title summary statement by adding “which fee shall increase annually.” The secretary of state certified the official ballot title, which included this modified language, to appear on the ballot for voter approval this November as “Amendment 3.”

Section 116.180, RSMo, requires persons who circulate an initiative petition to affix the official ballot title to each page of the petition prior to circulation and specifies that signatures must not be counted if the official ballot title is not affixed to the page containing the signatures. During the signature gathering process for the initiative petition, each petition page circulated to voters contained the full original text of the proposed measure but not the language as later modified by the appeals court and certified by the secretary of state.

This appeal raises several issues for the Court. One involves whether a court’s change to an initiative petition’s official ballot title language after the signature submission deadline retroactively alters the “official ballot title” for purposes of section 116.180. Further issues include whether the initiative unconstitutionally appropriates existing funds in violation of article III, section 51 of the state constitution or unconstitutionally provides public funds to aid religious organizations or religious schools, in violation of article I, section 7, and article IX, section 8. The appeal also presents the issues of whether the initiative unconstitutionally contracts away the power to tax, in violation of article X, section 2, and whether the amendment implicates more than one section of the constitution, in violation of article III, section 50. An additional issue involves a constitutional challenge to the statutes governing ballot titles.

SC95924_Boeving_and_Arrowood_brief_filed_in_WD.pdf

SC95924_Pund_and_Klein_brief_filed_in_WD.pdf

SC95924_Raise_Your_Hand_for_Kids_and_Brower_brief_filed_in_WD.pdf

SC95924_Secretary_of_State_brief.pdf

SC95924_Pund_and_Klein_reply_brief.pdf

SC95924_Boeving_and_Arrowood_reply_brief.pdf