In June 2025, St. Louis residents Jamala Rogers and Mike Milton filed suit against the state of Missouri’s attempt to take over the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) through House Bill 495.
A similar suit was filed by Board of Alderman President Megan Green in April 2025 with the support of outgoing Mayor Tishaura Jones. Green followed that with a separate lawsuit as sole plaintiff in May.
Mayor Cara Spencer, who took office in April, chose not to file a suit – that is until Thursday.
“From the beginning, challenging the state’s takeover of our police department wasn’t just about protecting local decision-making and residents’ rights, it was also about challenging an unfunded mandate that takes money away from crime prevention programs, infrastructure repair, and the many essential services residents rely on.”
Board of Alderman President Megan Green
“Regrettably, we are at an impasse in terms of what the law requires the city to provide, so we must ask the courts to intervene and provide that necessary clarity,” Spencer said Thursday during a City Hall news conference.
“While this was a difficult decision, this is an essential step to prevent a financial crisis and bring legal certainty back to our city’s governance.”
The “impasse” stems from a budget request by the state police board of $333 million which would devastate the budget and lead to mass layoffs of city workers.
“Now, here we are facing an illegal and unethical budget that has been presented. Now, she wants to fight,” Rogers said of Spencer’s reluctance to sue until this week,
“What she showed the voters of St. Louis and Missouri [was] that she was not willing to fight the hostile takeover by the state.”
In a release, Green called the mayor’s action “a major step in joining the ongoing fight for local control. The more bites at the apple we have, the better.”
“From the beginning, challenging the state’s takeover of our police department wasn’t just about protecting local decision-making and residents’ rights, it was also about challenging an unfunded mandate that takes money away from crime prevention programs, infrastructure repair, and the many essential services residents rely on,” said Green.
In a lawsuit filed by ArchCity Defenders, Rogers and Milton contended that the law violates the Missouri Constitution by imposing special legislation on a single jurisdiction and by levying an unfunded mandate against St. Louis City taxpayers.
Green’s lawsuit challenged the state without the formal support of the city government. She was the sole plaintiff in the lawsuit filed in Cole County against then-Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey.
Spencer’s lawsuit contends the state police board included restricted funds, reserves and Rams settlement funds when calculating the city’s police budget, which she alleges is incorrect.
Like the ArchCity and Green lawsuits, Spencer contends that the police takeover law is unconstitutional. It seeks the return of local control of SLMPD, and requests relief of city funding and legal obligations tied to the state.
The lawsuit was filed against the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners Brad Arteaga, Don Brown, Sonya Jenkins-Gray, Edward McVey, and Chris Saracino.