JEFFERSON CITY — As Missouri abortion rights supporters try to legalize abortion through a constitutional amendment, abortion opponents on Tuesday spoke out in favor of a plan that would make it more difficult to change the state constitution.
Initiative petition campaigns currently need to win a simple majority statewide to amend the Missouri Constitution.
But a plan supported Tuesday by groups such as Campaign Life Missouri and the Missouri Right to Life would mean constitutional amendments would need buy-in from conservative U.S. congressional districts to take effect.
In addition to the simple majority, the plan by Rep. Ed Lewis, R-Moberly, would require initiative petitions to win majorities in five of eight U.S. congressional districts.
Members of the House Elections and Elected Officials Committee heard testimony on the plan Tuesday.
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“The concern of our founders, and the concern of many people throughout the decades and years is to avoid having a tyranny of the majority,” said Sam Lee, lobbyist for Campaign Life Missouri, who is also helping lead a campaign, called Missouri Stands with Women, to defeat abortion legalization.
Susan Klein, director of the Missouri Right to Life, also testified in favor of the higher threshold.
“Obviously we all have to live by our constitution and I think looking to make sure that all of us have a voice and a vote when it comes time to changing our constitution I think is good for our state to do,” Klein said.
Lewis, the sponsor of the amendment, said constitutional amendments should win broad support statewide.
Rep. Joe Adams, D-University City, asked Lewis if his measure was an attempt to get rid of direct democracy.
“I think that our founding fathers were about as fearful of direct democracy as we should be,” Lewis said. “That’s why they created a republic.”
Adams said he believed Lewis’ plan was flawed because legislative districts were gerrymandered.
“I don’t think they are a broad representation,” Adams said.
While one of Lewis’ proposals would require campaigns to win in a majority of congressional districts, another would require majority votes in most Missouri House districts.
State legislators draw U.S. congressional maps, and a bipartisan commission drew recent Missouri House maps.
Lewis also received pushback regarding the wording of his proposal.
The resolution would prohibit initiative petitions that raise taxes on food and real estate, as well as banning foreign interference in initiative petitions.
“What we’re really trying to do is make it harder to pass initiative petitions,” said Rep. David Tyson Smith, D-Columbia. “If we’re just gonna do that, just do that.”
Rep. Donna Baringer, D-Ƶ, said when lawmakers try to put multiple subjects in one measure it is called “ballot candy.”
“I always warn my voters of the ballot candy,” Baringer said.
Other speakers railed against the proposal. “Stop trying to control Missourians. ... We are the boss, not you elected officials,” said Arnie Dienoff of St. Charles County.
Similar measures have yet to move in the Senate, which has been consumed by Republican infighting in the early weeks of session.
Senate President Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, said Tuesday he planned to refer to committee legislation dealing with a number of GOP priorities, including initiative petition reform.
The legislation is House Joint Resolutions 72 a 102.