Judge hears case about Missouri Attorney General's push to inflate cost of abortion ballot...

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."He demanded Fitzpatrick change the fiscal note to declare that the amendment could cost the state at least $12.5 billion in lost Medicaid funding, as well tens of billions in possible lost tax revenue because “aborting unborn Missourians will have a deleterious impact on the future tax base.”

Tillman countered that under state law, the attorney general has only a “perfunctory, ministerial role in the fiscal note process for initiative petitions.”

Bailey has no authority to asses the fiscal impact of initiative petitions, Tillman argued, and no authority to substitute his discretion for that of the state auditor.

To bolster that point, Tillman noted the General Assembly eliminated the attorney general’s statutory authority to draft the fiscal note summary for a proposed initiative more than 40 years ago.

“If the attorney general has veto power over the auditor’s fiscal determination,” Tillman said, “then the state auditor’s role in drafting a fiscal note summary is rendered meaningless.”

Both Tillman and Rothert noted that state law allows any citizen of Missouri to file a lawsuit challenging a fiscal note summary. That includes, they said, the attorney general.

Beetem asked Lewis near the end of the hearing whether Bailey would have the authority to challenge the fiscal note in court if he deemed it insufficient as opposed to blocking it in the review process.

“We think the attorney general would have the authority to do so as a Missouri citizen,” Lewis replied.

The judge gave both sides the end of next week to submit proposed orders before he issues his ruling."