302-2025: REFERENDUM.

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF M ISSOURI
CATHERINE L. HANAWAY
OP-2025-322
Supreme Court Building, 207 W. High Street, P.O. Box 899, Jefferson City, MO 65102 | Phone: (573) 751-3321 | www.ago.mo.gov
September 25, 2025
OPINION LETTER NO. 302-2025
The Honorable Denny Hoskins, CPA
Missouri Secretary of State
James C. Kirkpatrick State Information Center
600 West Main Street
Jefferson City, MO 65101
Dear Secretary Hoskins:
This opinion letter responds to your request dated September 14, 2025 for
our review under § 116.332, RSMo, of the sufficiency as to form of a referendum
submitted on September 12, 2025 by Richard von Glahn, version 1 (2026-R001).
We conclude that the petition must be rejected as insufficient as to form,
because the petition is not in the form prescribed by § 116.030, RSMo. Among
the requirements to form contained in § 116.030, RSMo, is the requirement that
the referendum 	petition 	be 	submitted 	“on 	any 	law” 	passed 	by 	the 	General
Assembly. This requirement is reiterated in § 116.050, which provides, among
other 	things, 	that 	the 	form 	of 	referendum 	petitions 	must 	“conform 	to 	the
provisions of . . . Article III, Section 50 of the Constitution.” Article III, Section 50
allows only for either initiative petitions or referendum petitions on “laws” passed
by the State of Missouri.
The referendum petition sample sheet purports to collect signatures for
a referendum 	on 	House 	Bill 	No. 	1 	of 	the 	103rd 	General 	Assembly, 	2nd
Extraordinary 	Session 	(“HB 	1”). 	Article 	III, 	Section 	31 	of 	the 	Missouri
Constitution provides, however, that a bill passed by the Missouri House of
Representatives and Senate does not become “a law” until it is either “approved
by the governor” or until the bill is not “returned by the governor within the time
limits prescribed by this section.” HB 1 has not been signed by Governor Kehoe.

The Honorable Denny Hoskins, CPA
Page 2
Nor has time to return HB 1 expired. Article III, Section 31 makes clear that,
because neither of these events have occurred, HB 1 is not currently a “law” under
the Constitution and laws of Missouri. Consequently, the submitted referendum
petition does not comply with the requirement to form that it refer to a “law” that
the petition is seeking a referendum on, and it must therefore be rejected as
insufficient to form.
Because of our rejection of the form of the petition for the reasons stated
above, 	we 	have 	not 	reviewed 	the 	petition 	to 	determine 	whether 	additional
deficiencies exist. Pursuant to § 116.332.4, RSMo, the Secretary of State is
authorized to review this opinion and “make a final decision as to the approval or
rejection of the form of the petition.”
Very truly yours,
CATHERINE L. HANAWAY
Attorney General