Understanding Missouri's Constitutional Government by Richard Fulton & Jerry Brekke

Author:Richard Fulton & Jerry Brekke [Fulton, Richard & Brekke, Jerry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: American Government, United States, Midwest (IA; IL; IN; KS; MI; MN; MO; ND; NE; OH; SD; WI), Political Science, State & Local, History, State, General
ISBN: 9780826219039
Google: EjfGIbrLc_EC
Goodreads: 12611761
Publisher: University of Missouri
Published: 2010-12-03T00:00:00+00:00

The general thrust of the constitutional provisions of Article III, “Legislative Department,” is to regulate quite specifically many areas of legislative activity. The result is a General Assembly that is far weaker in terms of its control over public policy for its jurisdiction than the national Congress for its areas of responsibility. It would appear that even though in theory the Missouri GA is closer to the people and thus, in theory, more responsible to them, this does not inspire more trust for legislative discretion. It should be noted that despite these limitations, the legislature has enormous input into the standards of conduct in the state. For example, the legislature can by statute state that life begins at conception and that an “unborn child” is a person. This was done in an involuntary manslaughter statute, and the Supreme Court of Missouri sustained this definition by affirming a conviction of an individual charged with causing the death of an unborn child.19

Therefore, despite the fact that the Missouri General Assembly plays an exceedingly important role in state government, it appears to be viewed by the constitution as a more or less necessary political process, which ought to be, nevertheless, systematically curbed and checked. Throughout Article III are provisions that, combined with Article X’s limitations and the governor’s veto ability, operate to place substantial limitations on the exercise of legislative power. This reflects the fundamental philosophical foundation of our system of government—the limitation on the powers of the operating organization of government.

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