Missouri Gaming Commission v. Missouri Veterans' Commission

I agree with the principal opinion to the extent that it concludes that a penal law is one that seeks to impose a punishment for an offense against the state. However, I disagree with the majority’s analysis because it implies that the statute in question is a penal law simply because it allows a public authority to collect a penalty for its violation. This analysis reads the words “penal laws” out of the constitution.

Article IX, sec. 7, of the constitution requires “all penalties, forfeitures and fines collected ... for any breach of the penal laws of the state” be distributed to the…