Former Missouri Rep. Mel Hancock, who authored an amendment designed to limit the growth of state income, has died.
Hancock's wife, Alma, said her husband died early Sunday in his sleep at their home in Springfield. He was 82.
Hancock represented Missouri's 7th District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1989 to 1997.
In 1980, Hancock led a successful effort to convince Missouri residents to approve an amendment that limits state revenues and expenses to a percentage of personal income of state residents. It also requires the state to fund expenditures of local political subdivisions, and mandates voter approval of new local tax, licenses or fees.
This amendment, commonly referred to as the Hancock Amendment, wasrecently referenced by St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay in the debate over local control of the city's police department.
Besides his wife, Hancock is survived by two sons and a daughter.
Funeral arrangements are pending.