In State of Missouri ex rel. Dr. Anna Fitz-James v. Bailey, (MO Sup. Ct., July 20, 2023), the Missouri Supreme Court affirmed a trial court's issuance of a writ of mandamus requiring the state Attorney General to approve the State Auditor's fiscal note summaries to eleven Reproductive Rights initiative petitions. That approval is necessary so that the Secretary of State can certify the ballot language and proponents can begin to circulate the petitions for signatures. (Full text of petitions [scroll to No. 2024-77 through 2024-87]). AP reports on the case. State Attorney General Andrew Bailey-- a gubernatorial appointee in Missouri-- contended that the Auditor's conclusion that the proposed constitutional amendments would have no fiscal impact were inaccurate. Bailey, an abortion opponent, contended that. if approved by voters, the state could lose $12.5 billion in Medicaid funds and $51 billion in future tax revenues because of fewer births. This earlier report by the Missouri Independent has additional background.
In its opinion, the Missouri Supreme Court said in part:
The Attorney General’s narrow authority to approve the “legal content and form” of the fiscal note summaries cannot be used as a means of usurping the Auditor’s broader authority to assess the fiscal impact of the proposals and report that impact in a fiscal note and fiscal note summary....
The Attorney General, nevertheless, characterizes his claim as challenging the “legal content and form” of the fiscal notes and their summaries because he contends they use language that is argumentative or likely to prejudice readers in favor of the proposed measure.... [H]e claims the content of the notes is likely to prejudice voters in favor of the proposals by underestimating the fiscal impact. And, because he believes the fiscal notes understate the costs to state and local governments, the Attorney General claims the summaries inevitably do so as well. The Attorney General has no authority under section 116.175 to refuse to approve fiscal note summaries on such grounds....
For more than 40 years, this Court has noted “that procedures designed to effectuate [the rights of initiative and referendum] should be liberally construed to avail voters with every opportunity to exercise these rights” and that “[t]he ability of voters to get before their fellow voters issues they deem significant should not be thwarted in preference for technical formalities.”... If the Attorney General had complied with his duty ..., the Secretary would have certified the official ballot titles for Fitz-James’s initiative petitions nearly 100 days ago.
