Court Opinion

ID: 9774728
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 18:31:53.250272+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:14.588992
License: Public Domain

WELLIVER, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Sections 21 and 23, art. Ill of the Missouri Constitution are substantive constitutional constraints which the people of this state have placed on the process whereby the General Assembly enacts laws. Accordingly, they warrant strict enforcement by this Court. The principal opinion upholds Senate Bill 575 with the aid of unwarranted presumptions of validity and a deferential standard of review. I know of nothing in constitutional adjudication that permits us to indulge in presumptions of statutory validity in derogation of the plain and unequivocal terms of the Constitution.
Sections 21 and 23 promise to remain neutered under the approach taken by the principal opinion. That this approach involves a legal sophistry under the guise of judicial review is demonstrated by the fact that, so far as I can determine, this Court has not sustained a challenge under these provisions during the past two decades. I believe our duty to enforce the Constitution of this state demands that we use more rigorous standards when we review legislation challenged under §§ 21 and 23. I would examine legislation challenged under § 21 to determine whether amendments to a bill have a reasonably close nexus to the stated purpose of the bill as introduced. When legislation is challenged under § 23,1 would determine whether the title of the bill describes the contents of a bill in sufficient detail so as to give other legislators and interested parties effective notice of the proposed legislation. I believe S.B. 575 fails under these tests and, therefore, I would hold the bill invalid.
It is time this Court developed meaningful standards to evaluate legislation challenged under §§ 21 and 23. Both other legislators and the general public have a right to notice regarding laws to be enacted by the legislature. The reconsideration of these fee and license increases is a small price to pay for maintaining the integrity of and public confidence in both the legislative process and our system of judicial review.