Did the Missouri AG approve the Secretary of State's summary statement for Patricia Thomas's 2020-019 right-to-work initiative petition amending Article I of the Missouri Constitution?

Plain-English summary

Section 116.334, RSMo, gives Missouri's Secretary of State the duty of preparing a summary statement (not exceeding 100 words) for any initiative petition that has been certified as to form. The Secretary of State submits that proposed summary to the Attorney General, who reviews it "for legal content and form" and either approves it or returns it for revision. The AG's review is statutory, not discretionary, and the AG's approval is not an endorsement of the underlying initiative.

On February 7, 2019, AG Eric Schmitt approved the proposed summary statement for Patricia Thomas's initiative petition 2020-019, a proposed amendment to Article I of the Missouri Constitution. The summary reads:

Do you want to amend the Missouri Constitution to provide that every employee shall have the freedom to work without being forced to join or pay any fees to a union (labor organization) in order to gain or keep a job?

This is a Missouri right-to-work proposal at the constitutional level. By placing the rule in Article I (the state Bill of Rights), the petition would put right-to-work above ordinary statutes (which the Legislature could change) and put it among the foundational individual-rights provisions of the Missouri Constitution.

The AG's approval here addresses only whether the summary is a fair, neutral, and lawful description of the petition's substance. Whether the petition makes good policy, whether the policy would survive federal preemption analysis, and whether the petition will ultimately collect enough signatures are separate questions outside this opinion.

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.

Common questions

What does § 116.334, RSMo, require the AG to do?

Review the Secretary of State's summary statement and either approve or return it. The review covers legal content and form only. The Secretary of State drafts the summary; the AG does not.

Does approval mean the petition is constitutional?

No. The AG's approval addresses only the summary statement, not the petition itself. The AG even includes a standard disclaimer that approval should not be construed as endorsement of the petition or its objectives.

What is "right-to-work"?

The label generally refers to laws prohibiting union security agreements that condition employment on union membership or the payment of union fees. The Patricia Thomas 2020-019 petition would lock that rule into the state Bill of Rights.

What ultimately happened to the Thomas 2020-019 petition?

Whether this specific petition gathered enough signatures, qualified for the ballot, or passed is outside the scope of the opinion. Missouri's right-to-work history includes Senate Bill 19 (2017), which passed the Legislature but was rejected by voters as Proposition A in August 2018. Any researcher tracing this petition should consult the Secretary of State's records.

Background and statutory framework

§ 116.334, RSMo, governs the AG's review of initiative-petition summary statements. The Secretary of State drafts the summary, submits it to the AG, and the AG either approves it as to legal content and form or returns it for revision. Other parts of Chapter 116 cover certification of the form of the petition by the Secretary of State, the role of the State Auditor in preparing fiscal note summaries, and the rules for circulation.

The Missouri Constitution allows constitutional amendments to be proposed by initiative under art. III, §§ 49-53. The 2020-019 petition would amend Article I, which is the Missouri Bill of Rights.

Citations

• § 116.334, RSMo (AG review of initiative-petition summary statements)
• Mo. Const. art. III, §§ 49-53 (initiative process)
• Initiative petition 2020-019 (proposed amendment to Article I, submitted by Patricia Thomas)

Source

• Landing page: https://ago.mo.gov/other-resources/ag-opinions/
• Original PDF: https://ago.mo.gov/wp-content/uploads/attachments/36-2019.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
Attorney General
JEFFERSON CITY
P.O. Box 899
65102
(573) 751-3321

February 7, 2019

OPINION LETTER NO. 36-2019

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 January 28, 2019, for our review under § 116.334, RSMo, of a proposed summary statement prepared for the petition submitted by Patricia Thomas regarding a proposed constitutional amendment to amend Article I of the Missouri Constitution, (2020-019). The proposed summary statement is as follows:

Do you want to amend the Missouri Constitution to provide that every employee shall have the freedom to work without being forced to join or pay any fees to a union (labor organization) in order to gain or keep a job?

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.

OP-2019-0026

Very truly yours,

ERIC S. SCHMITT
Attorney General