Opinion -- Lawsuit Filed Against Senate Bill Three

By the Article 3 Institute

The Article 3 Institute is sponsoring Moon v. State of Missouri, a lawsuit filed in Cole County Circuit Court challenging the constitutionality of Senate Bill 3, the bill passed in the June Extraordinary Session of the Missouri legislature. Senate Bill 3 is designed to use approximately $1.2 billion in subsidies to entice the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals to stay in Missouri.

The case number is: 25AC-CC05910

Challenging the bill are plaintiffs State Senator Michael Moon (Southwest Missouri), State Representative Bryant Wolfin (St. Genevieve), and citizen activist Ron Calzone (Central Missouri).

Counsel for the Plaintiffs are W. Bevis Schock and Erich Vieth, both of St. Louis.

The Defendants are the State of Missouri, Governor Michael Kehoe and Attorney General Andrew Bailey.

The lawsuit is supported financially by the Article 3 Institute, a 501(c)(4) public interest organization, and its numerous donors. This lawsuit is the second one facilitated by the Article 3 Institute within the last several months. The first (Case #24AC-CC08732) also claims that the Missouri state legislature is not following the state Constitution when passing laws.

“As far back as the 1800’s, our forefathers understood the need to constrain the legislature from doling out special favors to some, but not all, citizens. That’s why in 1865 and again in 1875 Missourians adopted constitutional prohibitions of passing special laws and “granting public money... to any private person, association or corporation,” said Paul Hamby, board member of the Article 3 Institute.

Ron Calzone, one of the plaintiffs and president of the Article 3 Institute, added, “The Missouri state Constitution defines state legislators' role and limits their power. The Article 3 Institute is dedicated to holding them to those limits through education and strategic litigation. We are proud to be teamed up with Senator Moon, who has been a beacon of principle in the legislature for almost a decade and a half, and Representative Wolfin, who has already distinguished himself with his scholarly devotion to the Constitution.”

The lawsuit claims that Senate Bill 3 covers a variety of unrelated subjects, including:

(1) Provides subsidies to promoters of amateur sporting events directly from the state treasury in violation of Article III, Section 38(a) and 39(5).

(2) Provides taxpayer subsidies to the owners of Major League Baseball and National Football League sports franchises for building and improving their privately owned headquarters and training facilities in violation of Article III, Section 38(a) and 39(5).

(3) Allow holders of elective office to use campaign funds to pay attorneys to defend legal challenges brought against them, (which would otherwise be a forbidden use of campaign funds for a personal purpose). Although not unconstitutional in itself, this provision doesn’t fit the title of the bill and thereby violates Article III, Section 21 and 23.

(4) Allow certain but not all counties to conduct votes on the adoption of the tax credits for property tax relief in violation of the prohibition of “special laws” in Article III, Sections 40 and 42.

Senator Moon objected to the bill as unconstitutional when it was passed and said in an interview Thursday with Missouri Independent that getting court guidance over what can and cannot be in a single bill is an important goal of the lawsuit.

The Constitution “kind of gives us our marching orders for legislators and how we pass bills and what they should look like,” Moon said. “Can you amend the bill beyond a certain point? I’ve come to realize it seems like we have veered way off the road.”

This lawsuit asks the court to either find the entire bill unconstitutional or prevent it from taking effect as of Aug. 28, 2025.

The loser in the trial court will have a direct appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court.