JEFFERSON CITY — A week after the Missouri House advanced a plan to make it harder for voters to change Missouri’s constitution, a Senate panel took up the issue Monday as one of its top priorities for 2023.
Over an initial three-hour hearing, members outlined a package of proposed changes that would raise the bar on the ability of voters to place questions on the ballot, while also raising the threshold for how the initiatives can be approved.
Republican lawmakers want to crack down on initiative petitions after voters approved a series of progressive-leaning ballot questions, ranging from making marijuana legal to expanding the Medicaid program.
The move comes as abortion-rights supporters have said they are considering a ballot question asking Missourians to overturn the state’s ban on nearly all abortions.
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GOP lawmakers, who hold supermajorities in both chambers, said altering state laws and rights should be not be left to voters.
“People do not know what they are voting on,†said Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, who wants the threshold for passage of ballot questions to be raised from a
But while the matter has been pushed by Republicans who control all the levers of state government, not all conservatives are in favor of the various plans.
Fred Steinbach, state finance director under former Republican Gov. John Ashcroft and the first mayor of Chesterfield, said the Legislature should reject the proposed changes.
“In 1992, my former boss John Ashcroft vetoed similar attacks on the process,†Steinbach said.
At the time, Democrats were pushing to make it harder for voters to approve amendments after the passage of the Hancock Amendment, which has guided state tax policy for three decades.
Others called the citizen-led petition process is a “sacred and trusted constitutional right.â€
“It gives voters the freedom to determine the laws that govern us and serves as a fundamental check and balance on the Legislature,†said former Sen. Bob Johnson, R-Lee’s Summit.
Other groups, including the Missouri chapter of the League of Women Voters, also weighed in against the proposals pending before the Senate Committee on Elections and Elected Officials.
The Missouri Realtors Association opposes the changes and has signaled it will mount a campaign to defeat any proposals if they make it to the ballot.
The Senate hearing came after the GOP majority in the House voted 106-50 to require ballot initiatives to get at least 60% support from voters in order to go into effect.
The measure, sponsored by Rep. Mike Henderson, R-Bonne Terre, also would require public forums in all eight of Missouri’s congressional districts, in an attempt to help raise awareness about suggested constitutional changes.
If passed by lawmakers, the proposed amendment would need voter approval.
Along with Henderson’s , senators have introduced plans to require passage of amendments to receive at least two-thirds support from voters, which would have resulted in the failure of nearly all contested initiatives.
Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, D-Independence, warned Republicans that they may be in the minority someday, leaving the ballot process as one of their only avenues to changing state law.
“This is something that was utilized by Republicans. The pendulum swings. I would be very wary of making changes like this,†Rizzo said.
Sen. Jill Carter, R-Neosho, is sponsoring to require questions to receive a majority vote in all 163 House districts, which would essentially allow rural areas of the state to veto initiatives favored by the state’s bluer, urban areas.
Sen. Sandy Crawford, R-Buffalo, is pushing for a plan to require people who collect signatures to be registered to vote in Missouri, thus ending a practice where out-of-state workers are brought in by signature gathering companies.
Under , Crawford said only Missourians should be involved in the process of altering Missouri laws.
But Denise Lieberman, testifying on behalf of the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, said such a ban should be rejected.
“As it stands now, this measure is unconstitutional,†Lieberman said.
Others said lawmakers should leave the process alone.
“It is direct, pure democracy. We should not undermine democracy,†said Angie Dunlap, a south ºüÀêÊÓƵ County resident.
No votes were taken Monday on the legislation presented to the panel.
Originally posted at 4:45 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13.