Did the Missouri AG approve the form of Deirdre Hirner's 2019 recreational-marijuana initiative petition (file 2020-128)?
Plain-English summary
Deirdre Hirner filed several near-parallel initiative petitions in October-November 2019 to amend Article XIV of the Missouri Constitution, the article that governs cannabis. The petitions covered recreational marijuana legalization, commercial licensing, a retail tax, and expungement for prior offenses (the substance is recited in the parallel summary-statement review at opinion 246-2019). Petition 2020-128 is one of those variants.
Under § 116.332 RSMo, the Secretary of State sends each filed petition to the Attorney General for a "sufficiency as to form" review. AG Schmitt's letter here approves the form of 2020-128. Form approval is structural: it confirms the petition reads like a valid initiative petition. It does not endorse the cannabis policy, does not bind the Secretary of State (who retains final approval authority under the same § 116.332), and does not vouch for the petition's substantive constitutionality.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 2019. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here. (Notably, Missouri voters approved a different recreational marijuana amendment, Amendment 3, in November 2022, so the legal landscape for cannabis in Missouri has changed substantially since 2019.)
Common questions
Q: What does "sufficiency as to form" cover?
A: The AG checks whether the petition has the structural elements Chapter 116 RSMo requires: a heading, the full text of the proposed amendment, signature pages with the statutory recitals, identification of who is circulating it, and so on. The AG does not review whether the policy is constitutional, whether it conflicts with federal law, or whether it is wise.
Q: Why are there several Hirner cannabis petitions?
A: Initiative proponents commonly file several drafts of the same idea so they can hedge against losing one to a procedural defect, propose slightly different policy variants, or lock in petition file numbers early. Once the proponent picks the version they want to circulate, the others typically go dormant.
Q: Was this the petition that legalized recreational marijuana in Missouri?
A: No. Missouri voters approved a different measure (Amendment 3) in November 2022. The 2019 Hirner petitions tracked here did not become law in this exact form.
Q: Who has final authority?
A: The Secretary of State, John R. Ashcroft at the time. The AG's letter is an advisory checkpoint. § 116.332 expressly leaves "final authority to approve or reject the petition" with the Secretary of State.
Background and statutory framework
Chapter 116 RSMo lays out the initiative-petition pipeline:
- Proponent files the petition with the Secretary of State.
- AG reviews sufficiency as to form under § 116.332 RSMo (this opinion).
- State Auditor prepares a fiscal note; AG reviews under § 116.175.4 RSMo.
- Secretary of State drafts a summary statement; AG reviews under § 116.334 RSMo.
- Petition is certified for circulation; signatures gathered by the constitutional-amendment deadline (8% of gubernatorial votes cast in two-thirds of Missouri's congressional districts, per Mo. Const. art. III, § 50).
Citations and references
Statutes: § 116.332 RSMo (the operative provision); § 116.175 RSMo (fiscal-note pipeline); § 116.334 RSMo (summary statement pipeline).
Sister sufficiency-as-to-form opinions in the Hirner Article XIV cluster: 231-2019 (petition 2020-126), 232-2019 (petition 2020-127).
Other Hirner Article XIV procedural opinions in the same cluster: 233-2019 (fiscal note review for petition 2020-125), 246-2019 (summary statement review for 2020-125), 247-2019, 250-2019, 251-2019, 252-2019.
Source
- Landing page: https://ago.mo.gov/other-resources/ag-opinions/
- Original PDF: https://ago.mo.gov/wp-content/uploads/attachments/234-2019.pdf?sfvrsn=2
Original opinion text
Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain, the linked PDF is authoritative.
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MISSOURI
Eric SCHMITT
November 15, 2019
OPINION LETTER NO. 234-2019
The Honorable John R. Ashcroft
Missouri Secretary of State
James C. Kirkpatrick State Information Center
600 West Main Street
Jefferson City, MO 65101
Dear Secretary Ashcroft:
This opinion letter responds to your request dated November 5, 2019, for our review under § 116.332, RSMo, of the sufficiency as to form of an initiative petition to amend Article XIV of the Missouri Constitution submitted by Deirdre Hirner, (2020-128).
We approve the petition as to form, but § 116.332 gives the Secretary of State final authority to approve or reject the petition. Therefore, our approval of the form of the petition does not preclude you from rejecting the petition.
Because our review of the petition is simply for the purpose of determining sufficiency as to form, the fact that we do not reject the petition is not to be construed as a determination that the petition is sufficient as to substance. Likewise, because our review is mandated by statute, no action that we take with respect to such review should be construed as an endorsement of the petition or of the objectives of its proponents, or the expression of any view respecting the adequacy or inadequacy of the petition generally.
Very truly yours,
ERIC S. SCHMITT
Attorney General
Supreme Court Building
207 W. High Street
P.O. Box 899 OP-2019-0268
Jefferson City, MO 65102
Phone: (573) 751-3321
Fax: (573) 751-0774
www.ago.mo.gov