Did the Missouri AG approve the Secretary of State's summary statement for Deirdre Hirner's parallel recreational marijuana initiative version (2020-128)?
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 (2020-128), the parallel version to 2020-127.
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 the parallel Hirner recreational marijuana initiative (2020-128), filed alongside 2020-127 (reviewed in 266-2019).
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.
The proposed summary statement is identical in substance to the 2020-127 version: legalize possession of up to one ounce and cultivation of up to three plants for adults 21+, allow state-licensed commercial cultivation/manufacture/retail, impose a 15% retail tax for veterans' services / state highways / addiction treatment, require local voter approval to ban retail facilities, and allow expungement of certain marijuana offenses.
The AG approved the legal content and form. Approval is statute-mandated and not an endorsement.
Neither the 2020-127 nor 2020-128 Hirner version qualified for the 2020 ballot. Recreational marijuana was eventually legalized in Missouri by Amendment 3 in November 2022 (a different proposal sponsored by Legal Missouri 2022).
Common questions
Q: Why two versions of essentially the same initiative?
Initiative sponsors commonly file parallel versions to hedge against legal challenges. If one version is struck down or runs into a procedural problem, the other version remains alive. Each gets its own AG review even when the substantive text is identical.
Q: What's the difference between 2020-127 and 2020-128?
The summary statements are word-for-word identical. The differences would be in the underlying petition text, which often involves small drafting variations: severability clauses, effective dates, or limitations. Those variations are why the Secretary of State assigns a separate petition number to each version.
Q: Was Amendment 3 (2022) the same as the 2019 Hirner versions?
No. Amendment 3 had its own specifics, including a different licensing framework, different tax structure, and the controversial "first to be licensed" preference for medical marijuana incumbents. The general policy direction was similar (adult-use legalization with retail tax) but the legal text differed.
Background and statutory framework
Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.334 governs the AG's review of summary statements. Article XIV of the Missouri Constitution covers marijuana law. The 2019 Hirner versions were among multiple recreational-marijuana initiative attempts before the successful 2022 amendment.
Citations
- Mo. Rev. Stat. § 116.334 (AG summary statement review)
- Mo. Const. art. XIV (Marijuana, Marijuana Industry, and Marijuana Law)
- Companion summary-statement review: 266-2019 (Hirner Article XIV, 2020-127)
Source
- Landing page: https://ago.mo.gov/other-resources/ag-opinions/
- Original PDF: https://ago.mo.gov/wp-content/uploads/attachments/267-2019.pdf?sfvrsn=2
Original opinion text
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MISSOURI
ErIc SCHMITT
December 17, 2019
OPINION LETTER NO. 267-2019
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 5, 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 (2020-128). 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 of up to one
ounce of marijuana and cultivation of up 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;
- 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) 751-3321 OP-2019-0301
Fax: (573) 751-0774
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The Honorable John R. Asheroft
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,
Bf fos
ERIC S. SCHMITT
Attorney General
OP-2019-0301