Green sues again over the state board overseeing the St. Louis police department

St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Megan Green is going back to court over a gubernatorial board overseeing the city police department.

Green filed a state lawsuit in Cole County on Friday trying to invalidate the bill that created the police board. She contends that it violates Missouri constitutional prohibitions over legislation with multiple subjects.

“Under the generic phrase 'public safety,' [the bill] deals with a host of matters in addition to the police takeover in the City of St. Louis,” the lawsuit states. “These matters are incongruous and disconnected. They include prosecutor pay, data collection, needle exchanges, jail phone calls, stunt driving, informants, payments for incarceration, and implicit bias training. These matters do not fairly relate to or have a natural connection with the subject of the bill.”

The lawsuit also contains arguments in a now-dismissed federal case that contended the police board legislation held an unconstitutional unfunded mandate and stifled officials like Green from speaking out against the police board’s decisions.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp dismissed that suit earlier this week after he questioned whether such a claim could be filed in state court.

Then-St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones filed the lawsuit on her last day in office. Mayor Cara Spencer said she didn’t want to join that suit, citing Schelp’s jurisdictional concerns.

Spencer’s office is not part of Green’s lawsuit — and added in a statement that it wouldn't be joining the case.

“While I continue to believe local voters should have control over local police departments, we have seen what rushing into lawsuits results in," Spencer said. "President Megan Green may want to file a new lawsuit, but it would be better for the City to present a united front and give the City Counselor’s Office adequate time to fully develop the City’s case rather than taking another premature stab at it.”

A spokeswoman for Kehoe did not immediately return a request for comment about Green’s suit.

Bailey said in a statement that “instead of filing frivolous lawsuits and burning through taxpayer dollars, St. Louis officials should focus on making their city safer—not attacking the will of the people’s elected representatives who stepped in to save it.”

“As Attorney General, I’m committed to protecting the people of St. Louis and supporting the men and women of the SLMPD who put their lives on the line every day,” Bailey said. “If City Hall won’t back its own police department, the State of Missouri will.”

The bill Kehoe signed went into effect immediately, meaning the governor will likely appoint members of the city police board in the coming weeks.