YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri Claire McCaskill

Report No. 2004-31

May 4, 2004

The following is a review conducted by our office of Article X, Sections 16 through 24, Constitution of Missouri.

On November 4, 1980, the voters of Missouri passed Constitutional Amendment No. 5, which added Article X, Sections 16 through 24 to the Constitution of Missouri.  The amendment, commonly referred to as the Hancock Amendment, requires that no greater portion of Missourians’ personal income be used in any future year to fund state government than was the case in fiscal year 1981, except as authorized by a vote of the people.

The State Auditor’s Office performs a review of the state’s compliance with the provisions of the Hancock Amendment to verify the accuracy of the revenue limit computation performed by the Office of Administration, Division of Budget and Planning (OA-BP).  The auditor’s review agreed with the OA-BP that no refund is due to taxpayers for the year ended June 30, 2003.

Total state revenue was calculated at $7.2 billion, while the refund threshold was calculated at $9.1 billion, which means state revenue was under the revenue limit by $1.9 billion for the year ended June 30, 2003.

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