Mel Hancock
| Mel Hancock | |
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri's 7th district |
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In office January 3, 1989 – January 3, 1997 |
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| Preceded by | Gene Taylor |
| Succeeded by | Roy Blunt |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
September 14, 1929 Cape Fair, Missouri |
| Died | November 6, 2011 (aged 82) Springfield, Missouri |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Sug Hancock |
| Religion | Church of Christ |
Melton D. "Mel" Hancock (September 14, 1929 – November 6, 2011) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri's 7th congressional district.
Hancock was born in Cape Fair, Stone County, Missouri and in 1936 started school in Carthage, Missouri. From 1936 to 1941 he attended school in Springfield, Missouri. During World War II from 1941 to 1945, he attended school in Amarillo, Texas; Topeka, Kansas and Sioux City, Iowa. From 1945 to 1947, he attended high school in Springfield, Missouri, graduating in 1947. He received his B.S. from Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State University) in 1951. He enlisted in the United States Air Force in August, 1951. In basic training he was awarded the American Spirit Honor Medal. He attended the United States Air Force Officer Candidate School and earned the rank of second lieutenant in March, 1953. Hancock was relieved from active duty in 1953, but continued to serve in the United States Air Force Inactive Reserve until 1965 and was discharged at the rank of first lieutenant.
Hancock worked full and part-time from 1947 to 1951 for International Harvester Company during college and from 1953 to 1959, when he resigned and returned to Springfield, Missouri to enter the insurance business, where he worked from 1959 to 1969. In 1969, he co-founded Federal Protection, Inc., a bank security equipment leasing company.
In 1977 he founded The Taxpayer Survival Association, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to educating the public on the principle of constitutional tax limitation. Hancock was the originator, catalyst, and primary organizer and author of an omnibus state and local tax limitation amendment to the Missouri Constitution passed by the voters of Missouri in 1980. Placed on the ballot by an initiative petition process led by Hancock, what is commonly referred to as "The Hancock Amendment", consisted of new sections 16 to 24 of Article 10 of the Missouri Constitution. In general, subject to certain definitions, exceptions and enforcement processes outlined in the Hancock Amendment, the Hancock Amendment limited total state revenues and expenses in Missouri to a percentage of personal income of persons in Missouri, required the state of Missouri to continue to fund expenditures of local political subdivisions required by state law, and required new local tax, licenses or fees to be approved by the voters of such political subdivisions. The Hancock Amendment was one of the first state tax limitation amendments in the United States and is still effective today.
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