Did the Missouri AG approve the form of the State Auditor's fiscal note summary for Mary Anne Sedey's automatic voter registration / no-excuse absentee initiative (version 12, 2020-139)?
Subject
The Missouri AG's review under § 116.175.4, RSMo, of the State Auditor's fiscal note summary for an initiative petition submitted by Mary Anne Sedey to amend Article VIII of the Missouri Constitution, version 12 (2020-139), establishing automatic voter registration and no-excuse absentee voting.
Topics: INITIATIVES. INITIATIVE PETITIONS.
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.
Plain-English summary
This is the AG's approval of the State Auditor's fiscal note summary for version 12 of Mary Anne Sedey's proposed Article VIII amendment (designated 2020-139). The proposed initiative would have established automatic voter registration through Department of Revenue records and prohibited requiring an excuse to vote absentee.
The fiscal note summary that AG Schmitt approved said:
State governmental entities expect one-time costs of at least $1 million and possible ongoing costs. Local governments are expected to have costs of an unknown amount totaling at least $746,000 in one-time costs, $138,000 in annual costs, and $31,000 in costs per election.
This is the same template as version 11 (262-2019), with one small dollar variation: $31,000 per election versus $36,000 per election. The differences reflect small textual variations between Sedey's filed versions, which generated slightly different projected per-election impacts.
The AG noted standard caveats: the approval is statute-mandated and does not endorse the initiative; § 116.175.4 review does not test the fairness or sufficiency of the estimated impact, only legal content and form.
Common questions
Q: Why are there so many versions of the same initiative?
Initiative sponsors often file multiple versions of a proposal as a procedural hedge in case one fails legal review or is struck by a court. Each version is a separate petition with its own fiscal note and summary statement, requiring separate AG review. Sedey filed at least twelve versions in late 2019.
Q: What's the difference between version 11 and version 12 of the Sedey initiative?
The fiscal note summary varies slightly ($31,000 vs $36,000 per election). That small dollar variance reflects underlying language differences in the petition text. The AG's review, however, only addresses whether the summary's legal content and form are proper.
Q: Did any version of Sedey's AVR initiative pass?
The opinion does not say. None of the Sedey versions appear to have made the November 2020 ballot. Missouri voter-registration policy has continued to evolve since 2019; current law should be checked separately.
Background and statutory framework
The fiscal note process under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.175 has three steps: the State Auditor prepares the fiscal note (the detailed projection); the Auditor drafts a fiscal note summary (a 50-word version); the AG reviews the summary for legal content and form. The AG does not test the dollar figures.
Article VIII of the Missouri Constitution covers elections. Sedey's initiative would have added automatic registration and removed the absentee-excuse requirement. Each version was a separate petition.
Citations
- Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.175, § 116.175.4 (fiscal note review)
- Mo. Const. art. VIII (elections)
- Companion fiscal-note review: 262-2019 (Sedey version 11, 2020-138)
- Companion summary-statement reviews: 268-271-2019 (Sedey versions 1-4), 272-2019 (Sedey version 5)
Source
- Landing page: https://ago.mo.gov/other-resources/ag-opinions/
- Original PDF: https://ago.mo.gov/wp-content/uploads/attachments/263-2019.pdf?sfvrsn=2
Original opinion text
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MISSOURI
Eric SCHMITT
December 6, 2019
OPINION LETTER NO. 2638-2019
The Honorable Nicole Galloway
Missouri State Auditor
State Capitol, Room 121
Jefferson City, MO 65101
Dear Auditor Galloway:
This office received your letter dated November 26, 2019, submitting a fiscal
note summary prepared under § 116.175, RSMo, for an initiative petition submitted
by Mary Ann Sedey, (2020-139) the fiscal note summary that you submitted is as
follows:
State governmental entities expect one-time costs of at
least $1 million and possible ongoing costs. Local
governments are expected to have costs of an unknown
amount totaling at least $746,000 in one-time costs,
$138,000 in annual costs, and $31,000 in costs per
election.
Under § 116.175.4, RSMo, we approve the legal content and form of
the fiscal note summary. Because our review of the fiscal note summary is
mandated by statute, no action that we take with respect to such review should
be construed as an endorsement of the initiative petition or as the expression
of any view regarding the objectives of its proponents. Furthermore, our review
under § 116.175.4 does not examine the fairness or sufficiency of the estimated
fiscal impact.
Very truly yours,
Ph fas
ERIC S. SCHMITT
Attorney General
Supreme Court Building
207 W. High Street
P.O. Box 899
Jefferson City, MO 65102 OP-2019-0297
Phone: (573) 751-3321
Fax: (573) 751-0774
WWW.ago.M0,Z0V