Did the Missouri Attorney General approve the form of Patricia Thomas's initiative petition to amend Article XIV, Sections 1-5 of the Missouri Constitution?

Plain-English summary

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt approved the form of an initiative petition submitted by Patricia Thomas (2020-022). The petition proposed amending Article XIV, Sections 1 through 5 of the Missouri Constitution.

Form approval is statutory housekeeping under § 116.332, RSMo. The AG's office checks that the paperwork meets statutory formatting requirements. It does not review whether the amendment is a good idea, whether it would be constitutional under federal law, or whether it would survive single-subject or other substantive challenges. Approval as to form does not prevent the Secretary of State from rejecting the petition at the next stage, nor does it predict whether the petition will reach the ballot or pass.

The letter, dated January 7, 2019, is one of a series the AG issued the same day on petitions Thomas filed in late 2018. Internal tracking number OP-2018-128.

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, requires the Secretary of State, after receiving an initiative petition, to forward it to the Attorney General for a review of "sufficiency as to form." This review is procedural. It looks at format and recitations, not substance.

The Missouri initiative process has multiple gates. After AG form review comes Secretary of State approval, ballot title development (sometimes contested in court), signature collection, signature verification, and finally a statewide vote. A "yes" from the AG at the form stage is a necessary but tiny step.

The Patricia Thomas petitions in this late-2018 cluster each proposed changes to a different article or section of the Missouri Constitution, with the form-review letters issued together in the January 2019 batch.

Common questions

What did this petition propose to change?
The form-review opinion does not summarize the petition. For the substantive text, refer to Missouri Secretary of State filings for petition 2020-022, which spanned Article XIV, Sections 1 through 5.

Does the AG say anything about the policy in the petition?
No. The opinion is about whether the petition's paperwork is sufficient to start the process. It takes no position on the substance of the proposed amendment.

Why does the AG approve form on petitions it might disagree with?
Because the AG's review duty is mandatory under § 116.332. The boilerplate "endorsement" disclaimer makes that explicit. If the form is correct, the AG must approve it, regardless of the AG's policy views.

What happens if the AG rejects a form?
The petitioner typically gets the chance to revise and resubmit. Rejection at form review is unusual and usually involves a clear statutory defect (wrong recitations, missing required language, etc.), not substantive concerns.

Source

• Landing page: https://ago.mo.gov/other-resources/ag-opinions/
• Original PDF: https://ago.mo.gov/wp-content/uploads/attachments/4-2019.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. 4-2019

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, Sections 1-5, of the Missouri Constitution submitted by Patricia Thomas, (2020-022).

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-2018-128