Politics, Elections and Government

Missouri judge rules minimum funding for St. Louis police does not violate state constitution

St. Louis Public Radio | By Rachel Lippmann

Published June 16, 2026 at 9:21 AM CDT

A Cole County judge has ruled that the Missouri law setting minimum funding levels for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, whose headquarters are pictured in 2024, does not violate the state constitution.

Missouri voters passed a constitutional amendment in 2024 mandating that state-controlled police departments be given 25% of their city's general revenue. Although Kansas City was the only such department at the time, St. Louis Police was taken over by the state last year.

A Cole County judge has ruled that the 2025 law that requires the City of St. Louis to give 25% of its general revenue to its police department by 2028 does not violate Missouri's constitution.

In an opinion issued Monday, Judge Daniel Green wrote that even though the state budget does not include any additional money for those minimum funding provisions, an exception to the Hancock Amendment for state-appointed Board of Police Commissioners means the minimum funding is not an unconstitutional unfunded mandate.

Although voters passed that exception when Kansas City was the only department under state control, Green wrote, "other statutes remained on the books that would have put a city under board control if certain conditions were met. Thus, if the exception was meant to apply only to Kansas City, the exception would have explicitly named Kansas City."

Green also rejected arguments that the police board bill was an unconstitutional special law because it was written solely to apply to St. Louis.

But he gave challengers – activists and city residents Mike Milton and Jamala Rogers – a small victory by striking down part of the law that gives lifetime health insurance to officers hired while the department was under control of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen.

The ruling was not a surprise. Green had telegraphed his thoughts on the final day of a May trial in Jefferson City.

Maureen Hanlon, managing attorney with ArchCity Defenders, which filed the case, said in a statement that the judge's opinion "demonstrates that there are, in fact, limits to the amount of city funds the Board of Police Commissioners can demand. We will be appealing to get a final determination on these limits, and on this legal scheme more broadly, which we and our clients believe violates the Missouri constitution."

It is the second opinion from Green upholding the constitutionality of state control of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. He ruled on Friday in a case brought by Board of Aldermen President Megan Green that the bill reestablishing the police commission did not violate single-subject or clear-title requirements.