LEGAL MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT:

Bi-State Development Agency – Authority under Interstate Compact

This Memorandum discusses the general authority of the Bi-State Development Agency
of the Missouri-Illinois Metropolitan District (the “Agency”) in regard to security activities and
protecting the safety of its passengers on its interstate transportation systems and facilities. This
memorandum is intended as a general overview and preliminary memorandum, and does not
address specific facts or circumstances.
GENERAL AUTHORITY AND STATUS
The Agency is organized as a body corporate and politic, pursuant to an interstate
compact between the States of Missouri and Illinois, and ratified by the United States Congress.
See Joint Resolutions of August 31, 1950, Pub. L. No. 81-743, 64 Stat. 568; September 21, 1959,
Pub. L. No. 86-303, 73 Stat. 582; September 30, 1985, Pub. L. No. 99-106, 99 Stat. 477; April 1,
1996, Pub. L. No. 104-125, 110 Stat. 883; December 19, 2011, Pub. L. No 112-71, 125 Stat. 775.
The Agency was formed in 1949 and is authorized to plan, construct, maintain, own and operate
public transit systems and to plan, coordinate and implement development projects in the BiState Metropolitan Development District. Id. The District consists of the City of St. Louis, and
the Counties of St. Louis, Jefferson and St. Charles in Missouri, and the Counties of Madison, St.
Clair and Monroe in Illinois (the “District”). Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 70.370, 70.373 (2016)1; 45 Ill.
Comp. Stat. 100/1, 110/1 (2014)2.
The Agency is created pursuant to the Compact Clause of the United States Constitution
which provides that: “No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress … enter into any
Agreement or Compact with another state….” U.S. Const. art. I, § 10, cl. 3. “Where Congress
has authorized the states to enter into a cooperative agreement, and where the subject matter of
that agreement is an appropriate subject for congressional legislation, the consent of Congress
transforms the state’s agreement into federal law under the compact clause.” Cuyler v. Adams,
449 U.S. 433, 438 (1981); Alcorn v. Wolfe, 827 F.Supp. 47, 52 (D.D.C. 1993).

1
2

All Missouri statutory citations are to Missouri Revised Statutes (2016), unless otherwise noted.
All Illinois statutory citations are to Illinois Compiled Statutes (2014), unless otherwise noted.

 The interstate compact entered into between the states of Missouri and Illinois has been
approved and consented to by the U.S. Congress. The Agency’s purpose is “to provide a unified
mass transportation system for the bi-state region.” KMOV-TV, Inc. v. Bi-State Dev. Agency of
the Missouri-Illinois Metro. Dist., 625 F.Supp.2d 809, 811 (E.D. Mo. 2008). Through the
Compact, the States of Missouri and Illinois and Congress have granted the Agency authority
over transportation facilities and systems in the District.
As an interstate compact agency created by the States of Missouri and Illinois and
approved by U.S. Congress, the Agency’s authority is unique and different than state or local
entities. The Agency “is a joint or common agency of the States of Missouri and Illinois.” See
Ladue Local Lines, Inc. v. Bi-State Dev. Agency, 433 F.2d 131, 132 (8th Cir. 1970). With
respect to the Bi-State Development Agency, the Federal courts have noted, “Entities created by
interstate compact have a unique legal status. Bi-State entities are creations of three distinct
sovereigns: two States and the Federal Government.” KMOV-TV, Inc., 625 F.Supp.2d at 811.
The court continues, “An interstate compact, by its very nature, shifts a part of a state’s authority
to another state or states, or to the agency the several states jointly create to run the compact....
Because parties to a compact have given up some sovereign powers, no party can unilaterally
subject the compact entity to a particular policy or law.” Id. (internal citations omitted).
As noted by the U.S. Supreme Court, where Congress has authorized an interstate
agreement, “the consent of Congress transforms the state’s agreement into federal law under the
compact clause.” Cuyler, 449 U.S. at 438. As such, individual state laws that are inconsistent
with the terms of the Compact are unenforceable. Alcorn, 827 F.Supp. at 52 (terms of a compact
cannot be modified unilaterally by state legislation and take precedence over conflicting state
law). Furthermore, one party to an interstate compact may not enact legislation that would
impose burdens upon the compact absent the concurrence of the other signatories. C.T. Hellmuth
& Assoc., Inc. v. Wa. Metro. Area Transit Auth., 414 F.Supp. 408, 409 (D. Md. 1976); Kansas
City Area Transp. Auth. v. State of Mo., 640 F.2d 173, 174 (8th Cir. 1981); De. River & Bay
Auth. v. N.J. Pub. Employment Relations Comm’n, 270 A.2d 704, 707 (N.J. 1970).
As federal law, the Compact will preempt contrary state law due to the Supremacy
Clause of the Constitution. See U.S. Const. art. VI, § 2; see also Hillman v. Maretta, 133 S. Ct.
1943, 1949–50, (2013). In Hillman, the Supreme Court held that “[s]tate law is pre-empted to
the extent of any conflict with a federal statute.” Id. (citing Crosby v. National Foreign Trade
Council, 530 U.S. 363, 372, (2000)). The Court went on to explain that such a conflict occurs
when “compliance with both federal and state regulations is impossible … or when the state law
stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of
Congress.” Id. (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).
Accordingly, the Compact preempts both Missouri and Illinois law to the extent it is
impossible to comply with contrary state law and to the extent that state law constitutes an
obstacle to the “accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress”
in creating the Agency.

2

 SAFETY AND SECURITY
The following are some of the relevant express general powers granted to the Agency
through its Compact and thus transformed into federal law:


To plan, construct, maintain, own and operate bridges, tunnels, airports and
terminal facilities and to plan and establish policies for sewage and drainage
facilities;



To acquire by gift, purchase or lease, ... to plan, construct, operate and maintain
passenger transportation facilities and ... rail, motor vehicle and other terminal or
parking facilities;



To perform all other necessary and incidental functions; and



To exercise such additional powers as shall be conferred on it by the legislature of
either state concurred in by the legislature of the other or by act of congress.

Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 70.370; 70.373; 45 Ill. Comp. Stat. 100/1; 110/1.
In addition, in 1996, Congress approved powers for the Agency specifically relating to
security and fare enforcement and made it clear that:


The Agency has the express authority to employ or appoint personnel (which the
Agency refers to as “Public Safety Officers”) to maintain safety and order and to
enforce the rules and regulations of the Agency upon the public mass
transportation system, passenger transportation facilities, conveyances, and other
property that the Agency may own, lease, or operate;



The Agency may employ peace officers through contracts with law enforcement
agencies within the bi-state service area;



The Agency Board of Commissioners has the authority to determine the
qualifications and duties of such personnel, subject to the limitations set forth in
the Compact;



Agency Public Safety Officers have the power to:
o give warnings or to issue citations for violations of the rules and
regulations of the Agency and for any violation of Section 70.441 of the
Missouri Statutes or Section 110/6 of Chapter 45 of the Illinois Statutes,
o request identification from those violators,
o remove violators from the passenger transportation facilities or other
property owned, leased or operated by the Agency, and
o upon the apprehension or arrest of any person, either issue a summons or
citation against the person or deliver the person to the duly constituted

3

 police or judicial officer of the signatory state or political subdivision
where the arrest is made, for disposition as required by law.
See Mo. Rev. Stat. § 70.378; 45 Ill. Comp. Stat. 110/1 (approved through Pub. L. No. 104-125,
110 Stat. 883 (1996)). Moreover, under the authority of the original Compact provisions, the
Agency maintains the express authority to perform other functions necessary and incidental to
these express security/safety powers.
As to the citations that the Agency Public Safety Officers are authorized to issue, the
Compact states:


A citation shall be considered a release on the personal recognizance of the
violator, provided that the citation shall contain a time and date of the appearance
of the violator in circuit court to contest or admit the charges.



Any violator failing to appear in circuit court when required to do so shall be
subject to arrest upon order of the court. The circuit court may establish a
schedule for that amount of fines for violations of Section 70.441 of the Missouri
Statutes or Section 110/6 of Chapter 45 of the Illinois Statutes.

Id.
Under the authority of the interstate compact between the States of Missouri and Illinois,
and approved by U.S. Congress, Agency Public Safety Officers are to maintain safety and order
on Agency property, and to uphold and enforce the Agency’s interstate compact and the rules
and regulations of its Board of Commissioners.
As noted, Congress has approved the Agency’s authority to perform “all other necessary
and incidental functions.” The Missouri Supreme Court has recognized this “necessary and
incidental” power of the Agency specifically noting that the two state legislatures and Congress
did not intend to confer an express power on the Agency “only to see it frustrated by a grudging
construction of governing authority.” Love 1979 Partners v. Public Service Commission, 715
S.W.2d 482, 488 (Mo. banc 1986). The court specifically held that the Agency’s powers should
not be strictly construed. Id. Thus, the Agency, its Public Safety Department, and its Public
Safety Officers, can take actions which are necessary to, for example, issue citations, request
identification, and remove violators from Agency property, and which are necessary to maintain
safety and order upon the Agency system and property.
The Compact grants the Agency certain authority as an interstate compact agency. It is
our understanding that questions have arisen as to whether the Agency, its Public Safety
Department, and its Public Safety Officers, are subject to the jurisdiction of certain specific
requirements of the Missouri Department of Public Safety, St. Louis County, the City of St.
Louis and/or other jurisdictional authorities within the District. These specific questions would
have to be considered on an individual basis. However, it is clear that generally, the Agency, as
an interstate compact agency, is not subject to the jurisdiction of one single state or state entity;
and the laws of one state (or local) jurisdiction which burden the Agency’s Compact are not
enforceable against the Agency.

4

 This Memorandum is limited in all respects to the substantive law of the States of
Missouri and Illinois, and the federal law of the United States, and does not express any opinion
concerning laws of any state other than the States of Missouri and Illinois. We further disclaim
any opinion as to any rule, regulation, ordinance, order or other promulgation of any regional or
local governmental body or as to any related judicial or administrative decision.
This Memorandum speaks only as of the date of this delivery. This Memorandum
addresses the legal consequences of only the facts existing and assumed as of the date hereof.
The opinions expressed herein are based on an analysis of existing laws and court decisions and
cover certain matters not directly addressed by such authorities. Such opinions may be affected
by actions taken or omitted, events occurring, or changes in the relevant facts, after the date
hereof.
Moreover, this Memorandum is rendered solely for information and assistance to the
Agency and may not be relied upon by any other person, or for any other purpose without our
prior written consent.
April 25, 2017

5