Opinion ID: 2271000
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Hancock Amendment and Standing

Text: Commonly referred to as the Hancock Amendment, article X, sections 16 to 24 of the Missouri Constitution aspire[] to erect a comprehensive, constitutionally-rooted shield erected to protect taxpayers from government's ability to increase the tax burden above that borne by the taxpayers on November 4, 1980. Fort Zumwalt Sch. Dist. v. State, 896 S.W.2d 918, 921 (Mo. banc 1995). In relevant part, article X, section 16 of the Missouri Constitution states, The state is prohibited from requiring any new or expanded activities by counties and other political subdivisions without full state financing, or from shifting the tax burden to counties and other political subdivisions. Article X, section 21 prohibits the state from requiring unfunded new or increased activities or services: The state is hereby prohibited from reducing the state financed proportion of the costs of any existing activity or service required of counties and other political subdivisions. A new activity or service or an increase in the level of any activity or service beyond that required by existing law shall not be required by the general assembly or any state agency of counties or other political subdivisions, unless a state appropriation is made and disbursed to pay the county or other political subdivision for any increased costs. Mo. CONST. ART. X, § 21. As stated in Fort Zumwalt, 896 S.W.2d at 921, By its clear language, Section 23 [of the Hancock Amendment] limits the class of persons who can bring suit to enforce the Hancock Amendment to `any taxpayer.' It states in relevant part: Notwithstanding other provisions of this constitution or other law, any taxpayer of the state, county, or other political subdivision shall have standing to bring suit in a circuit court of proper venue... to enforce the provisions of sections 16 through 22.... Mo. CONST. ART. X, § 23 (emphasis added). Further, [t]he school district plaintiffs do not, because they cannot, claim status as taxpayers. Fort Zumwalt, 896 S.W.2d at 921. As the trial court noted, the KCMSD is without standing to bring actions to enforce article X, sections 16 and 21 because a school district may not claim status as a taxpayer. Id. The individual taxpayer plaintiffs, however, do have standing to bring both Hancock claims.