City of Normandy v. Greitens

518 S.W.3d 183, 2017 WL 2119349, 2017 Mo. LEXIS 203
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedMay 16, 2017
DocketNo. SC 95624
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 518 S.W.3d 183 (City of Normandy v. Greitens) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Normandy v. Greitens, 518 S.W.3d 183, 2017 WL 2119349, 2017 Mo. LEXIS 203 (Mo. 2017).

Opinions

Mary R. Russell, Judge

When the General Assembly chooses to pass a special law, the State can preserve the law from constitutional infirmity by offering evidence of substantial justification if challenged in court. City of DeSoto v. Nixon, 476 S.W.3d 282, 287 (Mo. banc 2016). The State failed to offer any evidence in the trial court of a substantial justification for the special laws in Senate Bill 5 (“SB 5”) that were passed by the General Assembly in 2015. Consequently, the challenged provisions of SB 5 violate the Missouri Constitution’s special law prohibition.

Twelve municipalities in St. Louis County, along with two taxpayers (referred to collectively as “Plaintiffs”), filed a petition against the Governor, the Attorney General, the Auditor, and the Director of Revenue (referred to collectively as the “State”) for declaratory judgment alleging that provisions of SB 5 violate the Missouri Constitution, including the special laws provision in article III, section 40(30), the Hancock Amendment in article X, sections 16 and 21, and five other constitutional claims.

Of course, special laws like this may be passed by the General Assembly in the future and can survive a special law challenge as long as evidence of substantial justification is offered in the trial court. Because the State failed to present any evidence of substantial justification for enacting either section 67.287,1 in its entirety, or section 479.359.2, insofar as it creates a separate cap on counties with a charter form of government and with more than 950,000 inhabitants, they are special laws. The statutes target municipalities in one political subdivision: St. Louis County. The trial court’s judgment permanently enjoining the State from enforcing these provisions is, therefore, affirmed.

Section 479.359.2, insofar as it provides “except that any county with a charter form of government and with more than nine hundred fifty thousand inhabitants and any city, town, or village with boundaries found within such county shall be reduced from thirty percent to twelve and one-half percent,” is severed from the rest of section 479.359.2. By severing this language, section 479.359.2 imposes a uniform cap on fines, bond forfeitures, and court costs of 20 percent statewide.

This Court reverses the trial court’s judgment that sections 67.287 and 479.359.3 are Hancock violations as these claims are not ripe for review because the General Assembly has until August 28, [189]*1892021, to appropriate funds, and the alleged increased duty is de minimis. The trial court’s dismissal of the Plaintiffs’ other constitutional claims is affirmed. In total, the trial court’s judgment is affirmed in part and reversed in part.2

Pacts and Procedural Background

Over the last two decades, the General Assembly has passed various limitations on the amount of revenue municipalities may generate from traffic fines. The first limitation, known as the “Macks Creek Law,” was enacted in 1995. Sec. 302.341. It prohibited any city, town, or village from receiving more than 45 percent of its total annual revenue from fines for traffic violations. Id. Excess revenue would be remitted to the state’s department of revenue and distributed to the county’s schools. Id. The General Assembly reduced this cap from 45 to 35 percent in 2009 and to 30 percent in 2013. Sec. 302.341.2, RSMo Supp. 2009; sec. 302.341.2, RSMo Supp. 2013. The 2013 amendment further required. an accounting of the percentage of general operating revenue that came from traffic violations be included in the annual financial report. Id.

In 2015, the General Assembly passed SB 5 and the Governor signed it into law. The bill moved the Macks Creek Law from section 302.341.2 to section 479.359 and requires every county, city, town, and village to

annually calculate the percentage of its annual general operating revenue received from fines, bond forfeitures, and court costs for minor traffic violations, including amended charges for any municipal ordinance violations and minor traffic violations, whether the violation was prosecuted in municipal court, associate circuit court, or circuit court, occurring mthin the county, city, town, or village.

Sec. 479.359.1 (emphasized to show changes from the previous version). SB 5 also lowered the percentage cap from 30 to 20 percent. Sec. 479.359.2. The General Assembly created one exception to the new 20-percent cap: “any county with a charter form of government and with more than nine hundred fifty thousand inhabitants and any city, town, or village with boundaries found within such county shall be reduced from thirty percent to twelve and one-half percent.” Id. (emphasis added).

In addition, section 479.359.3 now requires all counties, cities, towns, and villages to submit an addendum with their annual financial report to the state auditor pursuant to section 105.145. This addendum must include an accounting of the political subdivision’s annual general operating revenue, “total revenues from fines, bond forfeitures, and court costs for minor traffic violations occurring within the county, city, town, or village, including amended charges, from any minor traffic violations,” and a calculation of the percent of the annual general operating revenue that the fines, bond forfeitures, and court costs for minor traffic violations represent. Sec. 479.359.3(l)-(3). Finally, “a representative with knowledge of the subject matter as to the accuracy of the addendum contents” must certify its accuracy and sign “under the penalty of perjury, and witnessed by a notary public.” Sec. 479.359.3(4).

SB 5 also enacted section 67.287, which lists “minimum standards” for certain municipalities. The statute defines such a “[mjunicipality” as “any city, town, or village located in any county with a charter form of government and with more than nine hundred fifty thousand inhabitants.” [190]*190See. 67.287.1(2). Section 67.287, in relevant part, requires covered municipalities to have “[a] police department accredited or certified by. the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies or the Missouri Police Chiefs Association or a contract for police service with a, police department accredited or certified by such entities” within six years.

.After the enactment of SB 5, twelve municipalities in St. Louis County3 and two taxpayers filed a petition in the Cole County Circuit Court seeking a declaratory judgment and preliminary and permanent injunction. They alleged the new statutes created by SB 5 violate the Missouri Constitution’s: (1) special law' prohibition in article III, section 40(30); (2) restrictions on unfunded mandates in violation of article X, sections 16 and 21; (3) guarantee of separation of powers in article II, section 1; (4) prohibition on amending Supreme Court Rules without specifying which rules are being amended or limiting the amendments to a single bill as provided in article V, section 5; and (5) limit on the amount of fines a municipality can keep from minor traffic accidents in violation of article V, section 27(16).

In the trial court, Plaintiffs offered the testimony of two witnesses. Plaintiffs also introduced an affidavit from the certified public accountant who prepares the annual financial reports for both Normandy and Pagedale. The State conceded it did not offer any evidence, let alone any evidence to support a substantial justification.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
518 S.W.3d 183, 2017 WL 2119349, 2017 Mo. LEXIS 203, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-normandy-v-greitens-mo-2017.