Missouri Government
Louis Joliet and
Father Jacques
Marquette
Saint Louis IX
Louisiana Purchase
Saint Louis
Missouri Compromise
World’s Fair
General Assembly
Legislature- General
Assembly
Senate
House of Reps
term length
34
163
minimum age
30
24
qualification
(voter)
voter for 3
years
voter of 2
years
resident in
district of 1
resident in
district of 1
qualification
(residency)
Governor- Jay Nixon
Governor
• Requirements:
• 30 years of age
• U.S. citizen for 15 years
• lived in MO for at least 10 years
• four year terms
• two term max
• 15 Executive Departments
• appoints the heads of depts/ choose judges for
state supreme court
Judicial
Branch
• three levels: circuit court, court of appeals, and
state Supreme Court
• Court of Appeals: eastern, western, and
southern
• Missouri Court Plan•
Under the Plan, a non-partisan commission reviews candidates for a
judicial vacancy. The commission then sends to the governor a list of
candidates considered best qualified. The governor then has sixty
days to select a candidate from the list. If the governor does not
make a selection within sixty days, the commission makes the
selection. At the general election soonest after the completion of one
year's service, the judge must stand in a "retention election". If a
majority vote against retention, the judge is removed from office, and
the process starts anew. If the majority vote in favor of retention, the
judge serves out a full term.
City of Clinton v. Cedar Rapids
and Missouri Railroads
- “Municipal corporations owe their origin to,
and deprive their powers and rights wholly from
the (state) legislature. It breathes into them the
breath of life, without which they cannot exist.
As it creates, so may it destroy. If it may
destroy, it may abridge and control.”
- Missouri controls local government in legal
sense, but not in a political sense.
Home Rule
• Missouri was the first state to grant home rule in
1875. But under the condition of:
• Section 19(a). Any city which adopts or has
adopted a charter for its own government, shall
have all powers which the general assembly of the
state of Missouri has authority to confer upon any
city, provided such powers are consistent with the
constitution of this state and are not limited or
denied either by the charter so adopted or by
statute. Such a city shall, in addition to its home
rule powers, have all powers conferred by law.
Political Positions:
• Lieutenant Governor: Peter Kinder (R)
• Secretary of State: Jason Kander (D)
• Saint Louis County Executive: Charlie Dooley (D)
• Saint Louis County Council: 7 members
• Mayor of Saint Louis City: Francis Slay (D) (v. Lou
Reed of the Board of Aldermen)
• Board of Aldermen: Cut from 28 members to 14
(January 1st, 2022) Why so long? Who wrote the
Bill?