JEFFERSON CITY — Republicans who control the Missouri House rolled out one of their major policy goals of the 2023 session Wednesday, offering up a proposal to make it harder for voters to change the state’s constitution at the ballot box.
After a month of moving top priorities through the committee process, the effort marked the first time a significant bill was laid out before the full chamber this year.
At issue is GOP pushback against Missourians using the voting booth to legalize marijuana, expand health insurance to more low-income people and raise the minimum wage in recent years.
Republicans who control all levers of state government want to make it more difficult to get a measure on the ballot and tougher for it to pass in the wake of those progressive victories.
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“I believe the Constitution is a pretty sacred document,†said Rep. Mike Henderson, R-Bonne Terre, who is sponsoring the change. “Our Constitution should not really be for sale.â€
Henderson, who is the House speaker pro tem, said the current set-up results in out-of-state interests putting their financial backing behind major changes in state policy.
“Many of these groups have no ties to our state,†Henderson said. “I feel like Missourians are being hoodwinked sometimes.â€
Henderson’s plan would increase the threshold for passing an amendment to 60%, up from the current majority of those casting votes.
That threshold would have meant the defeat of ballot questions like legalizing recreational marijuana, which is going into effect next month after 53% of the voters approved it in November.
In all, an estimated 60 of the 132 ballot questions dating to the 1940s would have failed if the bar for passage was set at 60%.
Henderson backed off an initial plan to increase the signature threshold to place a question on the ballot from its current 8% of voters in two-thirds of the state’s congressional districts to 10% of voters in each of the state’s eight congressional districts.
“The people of Missouri will decide whether we are right or wrong,†Henderson said.
The measure received initial approval on a 106-50 vote. It needs one more vote to move to the Senate, where Republicans are working on their own version of the initiative.
Democrats argued Wednesday that the proposal would take away the people’s power and voice.
“The clear argument here is the voters passed something we didn’t like. So let’s make the bar higher,†said Rep. Kevin Windham, D-Hillsdale.
“It’s like a crowbar sticking in my eyeball,†said Rep. Joe Adams, D-University City.
The maneuvering by GOP lawmakers comes as abortion rights supporters are considering a statewide referendum after watching election results in five other states — California, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and Vermont — where abortion-rights groups won ballot measures.
Anti-abortion groups are playing defense by pressing lawmakers to act in order to preserve the state’s ban.
The Missouri Association of Realtors opposes the change and has threatened to bankroll an opposition campaign to the effort.
A similar plan died last year in the Missouri Senate after Democrats used their filibuster powers to stall discussion on the proposal.
Henderson’s legislation is