Ezel / AG Opinions / MO
MO 266-2019 2019-12-13

Did the Missouri AG approve the Secretary of State's summary statement for Deirdre Hirner's recreational marijuana legalization initiative (2020-127)?

Short answer: Yes. AG Eric Schmitt approved the legal content and form of the proposed summary statement under Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.334. The Hirner petition would have legalized recreational marijuana for adults 21+, set up state-licensed cultivation and retail, imposed a 15% retail tax for veterans/highways/addiction treatment, required local voter approval to ban retailers, and allowed expungement of certain marijuana offenses.
Currency note: this opinion is from 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.
Disclaimer: This is an official Missouri Attorney General opinion. AG opinions are persuasive authority but not binding precedent. This summary is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Consult a licensed Missouri attorney for advice on your specific situation.

Subject

The Missouri AG's review under § 116.334, RSMo, of a proposed summary statement that the Secretary of State prepared for an initiative petition submitted by Deirdre Hirner to amend Article XIV of the Missouri Constitution (2020-127), legalizing recreational marijuana for adults 21 or older.

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 Secretary of State's proposed summary statement for Deirdre Hirner's recreational marijuana initiative (2020-127), filed in December 2019.

Note: the file's auto-generated title says "fiscal note summary," but the body of the opinion is a § 116.334 summary statement review (addressed to the Secretary of State, not the State Auditor). The two reviews serve different purposes; this one approves the ballot-summary language, not a fiscal projection.

The proposed summary statement that AG Schmitt approved said:

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 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;
  • require local voter approval to ban retail marijuana facilities; and
  • allow persons with certain marijuana-related offenses to apply for sentence reduction and records expungement?

The AG noted standard caveats: the approval is statute-mandated, not an endorsement of the petition or its objectives.

This filing predated Missouri's eventual recreational-marijuana ballot success. Amendment 3, which legalized recreational marijuana in Missouri, was adopted by Missouri voters in November 2022 (a different proposal, not this 2019 Hirner version). The 2019 Hirner versions did not reach the ballot. See 267-2019 for the parallel Hirner version (2020-128).

Common questions

Q: What is Article XIV of the Missouri Constitution?

Article XIV is Missouri's "Marijuana, Marijuana Industry, and Marijuana Law" article, originally created by Amendment 2 in 2018 (medical marijuana). The Hirner initiative would have expanded Article XIV to also cover recreational use.

Q: How is this different from Amendment 3 (passed 2022)?

Amendment 3 (passed in November 2022) was filed by a different organization and had different specifics. The general concept (legalizing recreational marijuana for adults, expungement, taxation) was similar, but the structure, license framework, and tax rate were different. The 2019 Hirner versions like this one did not collect enough signatures to qualify for the 2020 ballot.

Q: What's the difference between the summary statement review and the fiscal note review?

The summary statement (under § 116.334) is the question voters see on the ballot describing what the initiative does. The fiscal note summary (under § 116.175) is the cost projection. Each gets reviewed by the AG separately for legal content and form.

Q: Did the AG endorse marijuana legalization by approving this summary?

No. The AG's office is required to review summary statements regardless of subject matter. The opinion explicitly says: "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."

Background and statutory framework

Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.334 directs the Secretary of State to prepare a summary statement for proposed initiative petitions and the AG to review it for legal content and form. The summary appears on the petition (for signature gathering) and on the ballot.

Article XIV of the Missouri Constitution was created in 2018 (medical marijuana) and significantly expanded in 2022 (recreational marijuana via Amendment 3). The 2019 Hirner versions reviewed in 266-2019 and 267-2019 were earlier, unsuccessful proposals to add recreational provisions to Article XIV.

Citations

  • Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.334 (AG summary statement review)
  • Mo. Const. art. XIV (Marijuana, Marijuana Industry, and Marijuana Law)
  • Companion summary-statement review: 267-2019 (Hirner Article XIV, 2020-128)

Source

Original opinion text

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MISSOURI
Eric SCHMITT

December 13, 2019

OPINION LETTER NO. 266-2019
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 December 13, 2019, for
our review under § 116.334, RSMo, ofa proposed summary statement prepared
for the petition submitted by Deirdre Hirner regarding a proposed constitutional
amendment to amend Article XIV of the Missouri Constitution (2020-127). The
proposed summary statement is as follows:

Do you want to amend the Missouri Constitution to:

e remove state prohibitions on_ personal
(recreational) use and possession ofup to one
ounce of marijuana and cultivation ofup to three
plants by persons at least 21 years old;

e remove state prohibitions on commercial
cultivation, manufacture, and sale of marijuana
by state-licensed facilities;

e impose a 15 percent tax on the retail sale of
marijuana to primarily fund veterans’ services,
state highways, and drug addiction treatment;

e require local voter approval to ban retail
marijuana facilities; and

e allow persons with certain marijuana-related
offenses to apply for sentence reduction and
records expungement?

Supreme Court Building
207 W. High Street
P.O. Box 899
Jefferson City, MO 65102
Phone: (573) 751-3323
Fax: (573) 751-0774
WWW,ago.m0.g0V

OP-2019-0300

The Honorable John R. Ashcroft
Page 2

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,

14 f fan

ERIC S. SCHMITT
Attorney General

OP-2019-0300