FIRST REGULAR SESSION
95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE ROORDA.
1480L.01I D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To amend chapter 77, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to proposed ordinances in cities of the third classification.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 77, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 77.081, to read as follows:
77.081. 1. The residents of any city incorporated under this chapter may petition the city council to adopt or repeal a city ordinance as provided in this section. Such petition shall be signed by the number of registered voters required in this section, and shall be signed only by registered voters of the city. Each petition shall contain, in addition to the names and signatures of the petitioners, the street and house number in which the petitioner resides, the petitioner's age, and the length of the petitioner's residence in the city. The signatures to the petition need not all be appended to one paper, but each signer shall include the signer's signature and the address of the signer's place of residence. One of the signers of each such paper shall swear or affirm before an officer competent to administer oaths that such person believes the statements in the petition are true and that each signature to the paper appended is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be. The petition shall also be accompanied by an affidavit of one or more voters of the city stating that the signers were registered voters of the city at the time of signing and the number of signers at the time the affidavit was made.
2. Within ten days from the date of filing such petition, the city clerk shall examine the petition and determine from the voters' register whether it is signed by the required number of voters, and if necessary, the council shall allow extra help for the purpose. The clerk shall attach a certificate to the petition, showing the result of the examination. If by the clerk's certificate the petition is shown to be insufficient, it may be amended within ten days from the date of the certificate. The clerk shall, within ten days after such amendment, examine the amended petition, and if the clerk's certificate shows the petition to be insufficient, it shall be returned to the person filing the petition, and such person may file a new petition for the same purpose. If the petition is deemed to be sufficient, the clerk shall submit the petition to the council without delay.
3. (1) Whenever the city council receives any petition proposing the adoption or repeal of a city ordinance, signed by a number of registered voters of the city equal to at least twenty-five percent of the number of votes for all mayoral candidates cast by the registered voters of the city voting in the last mayoral election, the council shall either:
(a) Pass the ordinance without alteration within twenty days after attachment of the clerk's certificate to the accompanying petition; or
(b) Submit the question of adoption or repeal without alteration to the voters of the city immediately after the clerk attaches the certificate of sufficiency.
(2) If such petition is signed by a number of registered voters of the city equal to at least ten percent but less than twenty-five percent of the number of votes for all mayoral candidates cast by the registered voters of the city voting in the last mayoral election, then the council shall either:
(a) Pass the ordinance without alteration within twenty days, or;
(b) Submit the question of adoption or repeal without alteration to the voters of the city at the next municipal election.
4. The question shall be submitted in substantially the following form:
Shall the following ordinance be (adopted) (repealed)? (Set out ordinance).
5. If a majority of the votes cast on the question by the qualified voters voting thereon are in favor of the proposal, the adoption or repeal shall become effective as provided in subsection 6 of this section. If a majority of the votes cast on the question by the qualified voters voting thereon are opposed to the adoption or repeal, then the ordinance shall not be adopted, or in the case of a question of repeal, the ordinance shall remain effective, until the question is resubmitted under this section to the qualified voters of the city and the question is approved by a majority of the qualified voters voting on the question.
6. No ordinance passed by the council, except when otherwise required by the general laws of the state, or under this chapter, except an ordinance for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, which contains a statement of its urgency and is passed by a two-thirds vote of the council shall go into effect before ten days from the time of its final passage. If during such ten days a petition protesting against the passage of such ordinance, and signed by the voters of the city equal in number to at least twenty-five percent of the entire vote cast for all candidates for mayor at the last preceding municipal election at which a mayor was elected, is presented to the council, the ordinance shall not become effective. The council shall reconsider such ordinance, and if the ordinance is not entirely repealed, the council shall submit the ordinance to a vote of the voters as is provided by paragraph (b) of subdivision (1) of subsection 3 of this section.
7. No ordinance proposed by petition, or adopted by a vote of the people, shall be repealed or amended except by a vote of the people.
8. Any number of proposed ordinances may be voted upon at the same election in accordance with the provisions of this section. The council may submit a proposition for the repeal of any such ordinance or for amendments thereto, to be voted upon at any municipal election.
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