Effective 28 Aug 1983

578.106. City of St. Louis, certain areas, may be exempt from Sunday sales law, procedure — exception — limitation. — 1. The governing body of any city not within a county may, by ordinance, exempt areas of the city located within two thousand five hundred yards of a convention center owned by the city or within two thousand five hundred yards of a municipal auditorium owned by the city, or either of such areas, or parts of either or both of such areas, from the application of section 578.100. The ordinance of exemption shall specifically define the area or areas to be exempted and upon passage of such ordinance and filing with the secretary of state and the revisor of statutes, the provisions of section 578.100 shall no longer apply within the designated area or areas of the city but shall continue to apply and be enforced in all parts of the city not included within the designated area or areas. However, the sale of automobiles shall not be permitted within the exempted area or areas. The governing body of any city adopting an ordinance pursuant to this section shall file a copy of such ordinance with the secretary of state and with the revisor of statutes and such officer shall certify the receipt of the ordinance. The revisor of statutes shall note in the Missouri revised statutes that an area or areas of the named city are exempt from the provisions of section 578.100.

2. Following the effective date of any exemption adopted pursuant to subsection 1 of this section, no person who leases any structure, or portion thereof, within the area to which such exemption applies to any person engaged in selling merchandise at retail, may include in the lease, contract, or other document governing such lease any provision which would, directly or indirectly, require the lessee to open his business to the general public on Sundays.

3. Following the effective date of any exemption adopted pursuant to subsection 1 of this section, no lease, contract, or other document governing the lease of any structure, or portion thereof, to any person engaged in selling merchandise at retail, which was in effect prior to the date of such exemption shall be interpreted to require the lessee to open his business to the general public on Sundays if the lessee was not required to open his business to the general public at the time he signed such lease, contract, or other document.

4. If any portion of this section is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be unconstitutional, all remaining portions of this section shall remain valid unless the court finds that the valid provisions of this section are so essentially and inseparably connected with the invalid provision that they cannot stand alone.

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(L. 1983 S.B. 391)

Revisor's notes: On October 6, 1983, the ordinance passed by the Board of Aldermen of the City of St. Louis on October 5, 1983, was filed with the Revisor's office. The ordinance defined the area of that city to be exempted from the provisions of section 578.100.

(1980) Portions of statute providing procedure for exemption from "Sunday Sales Law" which treated first class counties by "area" were unconstitutional in that they treated first class counties in an "area" differently from a first class county not in an "area" and not covered by special legislation applicable to other first class counties. Gramex Corp. v. Von Romer (Mo.), 603 S.W.2d 521.

(1980) After eliminating unconstitutional "area" method of exemption remainder of statute was severable and valid. Gramex Corp. v. Von Romer (Mo.), 603 S.W.2d 521.