Tagged: Missouri Supreme Court

The Missouri Supreme Court has upheld a decision striking down a 2011 law that created an incentive fund for science and technology-based businesses.

In a unanimous ruling Tuesday, the court said the law was unconstitutional because the Legislature linked it to an unrelated bill about tax credits. That separate bill ultimately did not pass during a 2011 special session.

Lawyers for Missouri's governor and auditor are battling before the state Supreme Court over the governor's power to make spending cuts.

The Supreme Court was to hear arguments Wednesday on the constitutionality of about $170 million of budget cuts announced by Gov. Jay Nixon in June 2011 and challenged by Auditor Tom Schweich.

The case is an appeal of a July decision by a Cole County judge, who ruled that Nixon had a legal right to cut spending but also said that Nixon should not have been able to transfer money among various budgeted purposes.

An attorney for nonprofit animal shelters is trying to persuade the Missouri Supreme Court to strike down a law that he says was originally enacted through "legislative shenanigans."

Attorney David Cosgrove argued Tuesday to the Supreme Court that lawmakers violated the state constitution by including the animal shelter fee in a 2010 bill that originally dealt with dynamite.