missouri local-ordinance federalism
Does the state have the legal right to limit city legislation?
<p>Recently, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/st-louis-minimum-wage_us_595a69bae4b0da2c7324d725" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Missouri passed</a> a law which effectively prevents cities within the state from setting their own minimum wage. Now, I liken this to the fact that the states themselves can set a wage that is higher than the federal minimum wage (it can't be lower than the federal minimum). 
Does the state have the right to prevent cities from doing this? Is there a precedence for this type of action?</p>

<p><strong>EDIT</strong></p>

<p>So, to clear up confusion. I know the city can't go lower than the state(or federal) minimum wage. St. Louis had set a citywide minimum wage of $15. This new law that MO passed would negate the St. Louis ordinance, and prevent them from doing so again.</p>

<p>Generally speaking, state law and state constitutions govern the allocation of authority between local government and state government. </p>

<p>The primary exception to this general rule was set forth in the case of <a href="http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/517/620.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>Romer v. Evans</em></a> which held that prohibiting local governments from passing laws protecting gay rights violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. But, a laws holding that matters of minimum wages or rent controls are matters of statewide rather than local concerns probably don't run afoul of <em>Romer</em>.</p>

<p>See <a href="https://definitions.uslegal.com/d/dillons-rule/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Dillon's Rule</a>:</p>

<p>Dillon’s Rule is the cornerstone of American municipal law. Under Dillon's Rule, a municipal government has authority to act only when :
(1) the power is granted in the express words of the statute, private act, or charter creating the municipal corporation; 
(2) the power is necessarily or fairly implied in, or incident to the powers expressly granted; or 
(3) the power is one that is neither expressly granted nor fairly implied from the express grants of power, but is otherwise implied as essential to the declared objects and purposes of the corporation. </p>

<p>Basically the state can do what it wants and change expressly granted powers at will.</p>

<p><a href="http://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=71.010&amp;bid=3407&amp;hl=" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Missouri Statutes 71.010</a> says that</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Any municipal corporation in this state, whether under general or
  special charter, and having authority to pass ordinances regulating
  subjects, matters and things upon which there is a general law of the
  state, unless otherwise prescribed or authorized by some special
  provision of its charter, shall <em>confine and restrict its jurisdiction
  and the passage of its ordinances to and in conformity with the state
  law upon the same subject</em>.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>­­That is, city ordinances must obey state law. This is a general feature of cities and the states they are in: a city cannot override statewide law, it can only "add to it".</p>
