Certain county ordinances and resolutions authorized relating to county ...
Mo. Rev. Stat. § 49.650
in effect49.650. Certain county ordinances and resolutions authorized relating to county property and affairs — submission to voters — certain restrictions for counties of the third classification. — 1. The governing authority of each county without a charter form of government shall have the power to adopt ordinances or resolutions relating to its property, affairs, and local government for which no provision has been made in the constitution of this state or state statute regarding the following:
(1) County roads controlled by the county;
(2) Emergency management, as it specifically relates to the actual occurrence of a natural or man-made disaster of major proportions within the county when the safety and welfare of the inhabitants of such county are jeopardized;
(3) Nuisance abatement, excluding agricultural and horticultural property as defined in section 137.016 ;
(4) Storm water control, excluding agricultural and horticultural property as defined in section 137.016 ;
(5) The promotion of economic development for job creation purposes;
(6) Parks and recreation; and
(7) Protection of the environment from the risks posed by methamphetamine production. Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to allow a noncharter county to adopt an ordinance or resolution regulating the sale or display at any retail outlet of any drug having an active ingredient of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, phenylpropanolamine, or any of their salts, optical isomers, or salts of optical isomers. Each county shall have the authority by ordinance to authorize specified officeholders to receive donations for specified purposes to defray costs of administration of programs set forth in said ordinance. If any such ordinance, order, or resolution conflicts with a municipal, fire protection district, or ambulance district ordinance, the provisions of such municipality, fire protection district, or ambulance district shall prevail within the corporate boundaries of the municipality, of such municipality, fire protection district, or ambulance district. All ordinances adopted pursuant to this section shall remain effective until repealed or amended by the governing authority, except that the general assembly shall have the power to further define, broaden, limit, or otherwise regulate the power of each such county to adopt ordinances, resolutions, or regulations.
2. The governing body of each county without a charter form of government may submit to the qualified voters of the county any ordinance, resolution, or regulation proposed pursuant to this section for the approval of the qualified voters of the county. Any ordinance, resolution, or regulation submitted to the qualified voters pursuant to this section shall become effective if a majority of the qualified voters voting on the ordinance, resolution, or regulation are in favor of its adoption, but no ordinance, resolution, or regulation shall become effective if a majority of the qualified voters voting on the ordinance, resolution, or regulation are opposed to its adoption.
3. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to the contrary, no tax or fee shall be submitted to the voters of the county unless the tax or fee has been authorized by statute by the general assembly.
4. No county of the first, second, third, or fourth classification shall have the power to adopt any ordinance, resolution, or regulation pursuant to this section governing any railroad company, telecommunications or wireless companies, public utilities, rural electric cooperatives, or municipal utilities.
5. No county commission of any county of the third classification shall enact an ordinance with regard to agricultural operations under this section. Any zoning ordinance adopted by any county of the third classification before August 28, 2004, shall be exempt from this subsection.
(L. 2003 H.B. 267, A.L. 2004 H.B. 795, et al.)
Source: Open US Law by Vaquill AI (CC BY 4.0)URL: https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=49.650Fetched: 10/17/2026