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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri proposal to raise cigarette taxes to benefit early childhood programs can stay on the Nov. 8 ballot, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem dismissed efforts to remove the measure. His ruling, which opponents vowed to appeal, came the same day critics of another proposal that would reinstate campaign contribution limits in the state asked a different Cole County judge to take it off the ballot.
The cigarette proposal would phase in a 60-cent-per-pack increase between 2017 to 2020 and impose a 67-cent-a-pack fee, adjusted annually with inflation, on cigarettes sold by smaller companies that did not participate in a 1998 settlement between big tobacco companies and states. Missouri's cigarette tax is currently the lowest in the nation.
The issue went to Beetem after an appeals court decision earlier this summer that changed the wording of the proposal summary that voters will see on the ballot. Opponents — who include a group backing a competing ballot proposal to raise a 23-cent-a-pack cigarette tax that would fund transportation infrastructure — argued that petition signatures gathered under the original summary should be tossed out, a move that would have knocked the measure off the ballot.
But Beetem ruled that those signatures were valid and that Secretary of State Jason Kander followed the law when he put the measure on the ballot, despite the changed summary.
Kander applauded the decision.
"As the Court agreed, the intent of the law is not to disenfranchise Missourians who have legally signed a petition, which is why this petition should remain on the ballot so voters can decide on its merits," he said in a statement.
Attorney Chuck Hatfield, who represented tobacco store owners who challenged the measure, said they will appeal.
"We believe the law is clear that signatures cannot be counted in this case," he said in a statement. "We also believe the measure is unconstitutional and that the courts may consider that issue at this stage."
Beetem said other constitutional questions raised by opponents came too early and could be addressed after the election if the measure passes.
Attorneys arguing for the campaign finance measure to stay on the ballot raised similar points Tuesday.
That proposal would cap campaign contribution limits and impose other campaign finance restrictions aimed at preventing political committees from obscuring the source of their money.
Hatfield is also representing Missouri Electric Cooperatives and Legends Bank, which oppose the campaign finance measure. He argued to Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce that it would limit free speech and violate the Equal Protection Clause by restricting campaign donations of some corporations, state-chartered banks and political action committees.
But attorney John Sauer, who represents the supporting group Returning Government to the People, said arguments against the measure's constitutionality are not strong enough to pull it off the ballot. He said voters should have the chance to weigh in on it.
Joyce said she planned to rule on the case by Thursday.
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