Areas of Practice

• Administrative Law
• Appropriations and State Budget
• Boards and Commissions
• Elections, Ethics and Campaign Finance
• Coalition Counseling & Issue Management
• Constitutional Law
• Economic Development
• Education
• Environment
• Government Contracts
• Health Care and Medicaid
• Initiative Petitions
• Licenses and Permits
• Litigation
• Legislation
• Local Government
• Public Finance
• Statewide Elected Officials
• Taxation and Tax Credits
• Life Sciences and Technology
• Utilities

missouri administrative Law and state government News and Press

Brad Ketcher's representation of a client in a municipal election recount was recently covered in the St. Louis-Post Dispatch on -line feature, Political Fix, under the headline, "High-profile lawyers wrangle over two votes".

Citizens for a Better St. Louis, a Missouri Political Action Committee (PAC), recently made an independent expenditure in support of three St. Louis City School Board candidates endorsed by St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay.  Brad Ketcher serves as Treasurer of the Committee and was quoted in this recent St. Louis Post-Dispatch story.

Brad Ketcher speaks to the Women’s Lawyer Association of Greater St. Louis, Missouri about the Missouri judicial selection process and about the qualities Missouri Governors look for in prospective trial and appellate judges.

At the first meeting of the Missouri Life Sciences Research Board in Jefferson City, Missouri, administrative lawyer Brad Ketcher discusses the appointment powers of the Missouri Governor and the Missouri State Senate confirmation process.

St. Louis, Missouri lawyer Brad Ketcher talks with the Jefferson City, Missouri Bureau of the Associated Press about a proposed amendment to the Missouri Constitution regarding Missouri state budget appropriations for education and health care.

A Missouri initiative petition drafted by St. Louis administrative lawyer Brad Ketcher is discussed by the candidates for Missouri Secretary of State in the Columbia (Missouri) Tribune and the University of Missouri-Columbia Maneater.

Ground was recently broken on the first CORTEX Life Sciences District project in St. Louis, Missouri. The St. Louis project was made possible by an award of $12 million in Missouri state tax credits from the Missouri Development Finance Board and the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

A look back...

The 1997 Missouri Administrative Rules Crisis:

In January of 1997, the Missouri Supreme Court handed down its decision in Missouri Coalition for the Environment v. Joint Committee on Administrative Rules.

In Coalition for the Environment, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the unilateral veto by the legislative branch of executive branch administrative rules. The court held that the legislature could only alter administrative rules if the change was passed as a bill and presented to the Governor for signature or veto. The decision stripped the General Assembly's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules of its authority to suspend agency rulemakings, a powerful check on executive branch authority.

The case spawned several weeks of intense friction between the two branches. The General Assembly searched for ways to maintain control over administrative rules, consistent with the decision. It even considered repealing all administrative rules powers previously granted to the executive branch. At the same time, the executive branch sought to preserve its powers under the decision.

In the end, the two branches forged a compromise that endures to this day. Under the compromise, executive branch departments continue to enjoy administrative rulemaking authority. In return, the executive branch requires by Governor’s Executive Order that its departments temporarily suspend a rulemaking if the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules requests it. The temporary suspension gives the legislature time to consider formal repeal of the rulemaking, with presentment of the repeal to the Governor for signature or veto.

Read Brad Ketcher’s comments to the Columbia Tribune on the breakthrough administrative rules legislation

Read Missouri House Bill 850 (1997), the compromise administrative rules legislation

Read the resulting Missouri Governor’s Executive Order 97-97