Did the Missouri AG approve the ballot summary for Deirdre Hirner's 2019 recreational marijuana initiative petition (2020-125)?
Plain-English summary
Deirdre Hirner filed an initiative petition (file number 2020-125) in November 2019 proposing a constitutional amendment to Article XIV of the Missouri Constitution. The amendment would have legalized personal recreational marijuana use and possession (up to one ounce, three plants for cultivation, persons 21 and over), licensed commercial cultivation, manufacture, and retail sales, imposed a 15% tax on retail marijuana, limited local control over dispensaries, and allowed people with prior marijuana-related sentences to apply for sentence reduction and expungement.
After such a petition is filed, the Secretary of State drafts a "summary statement," the question text that voters would actually see on the ballot if the petition qualifies. Under § 116.334 RSMo, the Secretary then sends the draft to the AG for review of legal content and form. AG Schmitt's letter approves the draft summary statement.
This opinion does not weigh in on whether the policy is a good idea, whether it conflicts with federal law, or whether the petition's substance is constitutionally sound. The AG's role at this stage is narrow: confirm the summary statement accurately reflects the petition and is not legally defective.
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. The Hirner petition tracked here is one of several 2019-2020 era proposals that did not become law in this exact form.)
Common questions
Q: What is a "summary statement"?
A: It is the short ballot question text that appears on the voter's ballot when the initiative is voted on. Missouri requires that the summary fairly describe the proposal in plain language. The Secretary of State drafts it, and § 116.334 gives the AG a legal-form review and any opponent a right to challenge it in court (§ 116.190 RSMo) on grounds that it is insufficient or unfair.
Q: What did Hirner's petition actually do?
A: According to the summary statement quoted in the opinion, the petition would (1) remove state prohibitions on personal recreational use of up to one ounce of marijuana and cultivation of up to three plants by persons 21 and older; (2) remove state prohibitions on commercial cultivation, manufacturing, and sale by state-licensed facilities; (3) impose a 15% retail tax dedicated primarily to veterans' services, state highways, and drug addiction treatment; (4) limit local control of marijuana dispensaries; and (5) allow people with certain marijuana-related convictions to seek sentence reductions and record expungement.
Q: Did the petition reach the ballot?
A: The opinion does not say. Petitions clearing AG review still need certified signatures by the statutory deadline. Missouri voters did pass a different recreational-marijuana amendment (Amendment 3) in November 2022, but that was a separate measure with its own petition cycle.
Q: Why does the AG say "no endorsement"?
A: § 116.334 mandates the AG's review, so doing the review cannot be read as a political endorsement. Schmitt's office repeats this disclaimer in every Chapter 116 letter to make clear the AG is acting as a checkpoint, not a policy advocate.
Q: Who can challenge the summary statement?
A: § 116.190 RSMo lets any registered voter challenge the official ballot summary as "insufficient or unfair" by filing suit in Cole County circuit court within ten days of certification. Many Missouri ballot summaries trigger such suits, and the courts often rewrite the summary if they find it misleading.
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.
- State Auditor prepares a fiscal note and fiscal-note summary; AG reviews legal content and form under § 116.175.4 RSMo.
- Secretary of State drafts a summary statement (the ballot question); AG reviews legal content and form under § 116.334 RSMo (this opinion).
- Petition is certified for circulation; signatures must be gathered by the statutory deadline.
- Any challenge to the summary statement is heard in Cole County under § 116.190 RSMo.
The November 2019 cluster of MO opinions (roughly 235 through 280) shows the AG processing multiple petitions, each cycling through these checkpoints. Hirner alone filed several variants on Article XIV recreational-marijuana petitions; opinions 247-2019, 250-2019, 251-2019, and 252-2019 are sister reviews on related Hirner petitions.
Citations and references
Statutes: § 116.334, RSMo (the operative provision); § 116.175 RSMo (fiscal-note pipeline); § 116.332 RSMo (sufficiency-as-to-form); § 116.190 RSMo (judicial challenges to summary).
Sister Hirner Article XIV opinions: 247-2019, 250-2019, 251-2019, 252-2019 (various procedural reviews of related recreational-marijuana petition variants).
Sister Sedey Article VIII election-administration opinions in the same cluster: 237-2019 through 245-2019 (sufficiency-as-to-form reviews of versions 3-11), 253-2019 through 256-2019 (fiscal-note reviews of versions 1-4).
Source
- Landing page: https://ago.mo.gov/other-resources/ag-opinions/
- Original PDF: https://ago.mo.gov/wp-content/uploads/attachments/246-2019.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 18, 2019
OPINION LETTER NO. 246-2019
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 8, 2019, for our review under § 116.334, RSMo, of a proposed summary statement prepared for the petition submitted by Deirdre Hirner regarding a proposed constitutional amendment to amend Article XIV of the Missouri Constitution, (2020-125). The proposed summary statement is as follows:
Do you want to amend the Missouri Constitution to:
remove state prohibitions on personal (recreational) use and possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and cultivation of up to three plants for personal use by persons at least 21 years old;
remove state prohibitions on commercial cultivation, manufacture, and sale of marijuana by state-licensed facilities;
impose a 15 percent tax on the retail sale of marijuana to primarily fund veterans' services, state highways, and drug addiction treatment;
limit local control of marijuana dispensaries; and
allow persons with certain marijuana-related offenses to apply to have sentences reduced and records expunged?
Pursuant to § 116.334, RSMo, we approve the legal content and form of the proposed statement. Because our review of the statement is mandated by statute, no action that we take with respect to such review should be construed as an endorsement of the petition, nor as the expression of any view regarding the objectives of its proponents.
Very truly yours,
ERIC S. SCHMITT
Attorney General
Supreme Court Building
207 W. High Street
P.O. Box 899 OP-2019-0280
Jefferson City, MO 65102
Phone: (573) 751-3321
Fax: (573) 751-0774
www.ago.mo.gov