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for nonprofit animal shelters is trying to persuade the Missouri Supreme Court to strike down a law that he says was originally enacted through "legislative shenanigans."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.
But some Supreme Court judges seemed skeptical of his argument. They noted that lawmakers repealed and re-enacted the law the next year as part of another bill, thus potentially alleviating concerns about the 2010 legislation.
The animal shelter fees are an offshoot of tussle about how to regulate dog breeders in Missouri. The shelters don't want to be subject to the same fees that finance the regulation of dog breeders.
