Sen. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, is one of three plaintiffs challenging a legislative package that provides incentives for professional sports stadiums. Pictured here, Moon sits at his desk during the first day of the 2024 Legislative Session (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent).
Legislators upset that a bill they oppose becomes law don’t have a right to sue over it, attorneys defending the special session measure that provides state support to professional sports stadiums said in court on Tuesday.
“It’s not recognized in the state of Missouri that a legislator can come to the court simply because they don’t like a vote that was taken… the court system would be flooded,” Marc Ellinger, an attorney representing the Missouri General Assembly, argued in Cole County Circuit Court.
Ellinger was joined by assistant attorney general Sean McDowell in arguments seeking to dismiss the lawsuit filed in July by state Sen. Mike Moon, a Republican from Ash Grove, and state Rep. Bryant Wolfin, a Republican from Ste. Genevieve and conservative activist Ron Calzone.
Moon and the other plaintiffs want to throw out the entire legislative package, which includes tax credits for home repairs after natural disasters this year and property-tax restrictions for some counties.
The law, they say, goes beyond the bill’s original subject and provides unconstitutional aid to private interests. But if the state’s motion to dismiss is approved, they won’t get to argue these points in court.
Ellinger and McDowell argued the case can’t move forward, saying plaintiffs lack taxpayer standing and dismissing the idea of “legislative standing.”
“I don’t think there’s any standing for specific legislators to bring a case as the plaintiffs have,” McDowell said.
Taxpayer standing requires a direct expenditure and because the bill operates through tax credits and is “subject to appropriation,” there is no direct cost to the taxpayer, he argued.
Attorney Bevis Schock, who is representing the law’s challengers, said there are up-front costs to the bill such as an estimated $10,000 expense to create the tax-credit application.
“If these plaintiffs have no standing and we throw this case in the trash, we might as well pitch the constitution in there with it,” he wrote in a pre-hearing filing.
The purpose of the lawsuit, Schock said in court on Tuesday, is to challenge bills with multiple subjects.
“The problem is.. the voter can’t tell what item the legislator is for or against,” he said. “That is why we are bringing the case.”
If they lose in circuit court, Schock said, he will appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court.
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