Did the Missouri Attorney General approve the form of Patricia Thomas's initiative petition to amend Article XIV, Section 1 of the Missouri Constitution?

Plain-English summary

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt approved the form of an initiative petition submitted by Patricia Thomas (2020-021). The petition proposed amending Article XIV, Section 1 of the Missouri Constitution.

The approval is narrow. Under § 116.332, RSMo, the Attorney General's review checks only whether the petition is sufficient "as to form," meaning whether the paperwork itself meets the statutory format requirements. The AG does not review the substance of the proposed amendment, does not opine on whether voters should support it, and does not bind the Secretary of State.

Two things the opinion stresses, in language that has become near-template across these form-review letters from Missouri AGs:

• Form approval is not substance approval. The Secretary of State has separate statutory authority to approve or reject the petition.
• The AG's review is not an endorsement. Because the review is statutorily mandated, the AG's office cannot decline it, and the act of completing the review carries no implicit support for the proposed measure.

The letter is dated January 7, 2019. Internal tracking number OP-2018-127.

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.

Background and statutory framework

Section 116.332, RSMo, is the gateway for Missouri citizen initiatives. After a sponsor submits a draft petition to the Secretary of State, the Secretary forwards the draft to the Attorney General for review of sufficiency as to form. The AG either approves or rejects the form. If approved, the petition moves on through the Secretary of State's separate approval process, then to signature gathering.

The AG's form-sufficiency review is not a constitutional or policy review. It looks at format: is the petition in the statutorily required structure, with the proper recitations and headings, so that signatures gathered on it can be counted. Substantive challenges to a petition (legal defects in the proposed amendment, single-subject violations, vagueness) get raised later, often in litigation after the petition certifies to the ballot.

Patricia Thomas submitted a cluster of initiative drafts in late 2018, each addressed in its own AG form-review letter from the same January 2019 batch.

Common questions

What did this petition actually propose?
The Attorney General's form-review opinion does not summarize the petition's substance. To see the actual text, look up Missouri Secretary of State filings for petition 2020-021.

Did the petition make it to the 2020 ballot?
Form approval is just step one. Many initiative drafts cleared by the AG never reach the ballot, either because signature gathering fails, because the Secretary of State rejects them at a later stage, or because they are abandoned. Whether 2020-021 ultimately made the ballot requires checking Missouri election records.

Does AG form approval mean the petition will become law?
Not even close. After AG form approval, the petition still needs Secretary of State approval, a ballot title written or revised through a separate process, sufficient certified voter signatures, and majority approval at the ballot. Many petitions die at each step.

Why does the AG include the "not an endorsement" language?
Because § 116.332 forces the AG to act on every submitted petition, regardless of whether the AG agrees with its content. The boilerplate disclaimer makes clear that completing the statutory duty is not a political endorsement.

Source

• Landing page: https://ago.mo.gov/other-resources/ag-opinions/
• Original PDF: https://ago.mo.gov/wp-content/uploads/attachments/3-2019.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
Jefferson City, P.O. Box 899, 65102
(573) 751-3321

January 7, 2019

OPINION LETTER NO. 3-2019

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 27, 2018, for our review under § 116.332, RSMo, of the sufficiency as to form of an initiative petition to amend Article XIV, Section 1, of the Missouri Constitution submitted by Patricia Thomas, (2020-021).

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

OP-2018-127