JEFFERSON CITY — Democrats returned to the Senate floor Tuesday and blocked action for a second day on a Republican-backed measure that would make passage of constitutional amendments more difficult.
Senators debated the measure for hours on Monday. But shortly after 9:45 p.m., the sponsor, Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, R-Arnold, pulled the measure off the Senate floor and the upper chamber adjourned.
The Republicans who control the chamber quickly returned to the proposed initiative petition changes shortly after reconvening Tuesday morning.
But just before 4 p.m., with a parade scheduled in Kansas City on Wednesday to celebrate the Chiefs’ Super Bowl win, senators adjourned until Monday, punting the issue to next week.
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Democrats launched into a filibuster in a bid to block a vote.
Coleman’s measure would require proposed constitutional amendments to win a simple majority statewide as well as a majority in five of eight congressional districts to take effect.
“The Republican Party is actively trying to change the process because they’re scared to death that people will actually get to voice their opinion and they’re going to be wrong,†said Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, D-Independence.
Republicans in recent years have repeatedly attempted to make citizen-led initiative petitions more difficult as voters have approved progressive ballot questions, such as Medicaid expansion and marijuana legalization.
This year, Senate debate on the measure followed weeks of pressure by some hard-line Republicans to respond to an ongoing campaign to legalize abortion with action on changes to the initiative petition process.
The campaign is currently collecting signatures to place a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot later this year.
Republican proponents want the initiative petition changes on the August ballot, hoping that if an abortion question appeared before voters in November, it would be more difficult to approve.
As Democrats were blocking a vote on the plan, the spokesman for , a campaign founded by Missouri Realtors, blasted the “concurrent majority†being floated in the Senate.
The deep-pocketed Realtors, who have used the initiative petition process in the past, could be one of the main opponents of any initiative petition changes that reach the ballot.
“The idea of requiring a second vote, after all Missouri citizens have already had an opportunity to vote, violates the long-established principle of one-person, one-vote,†Scott Charton, spokesman for the group, said in a statement. “That’s just undemocratic and it devalues citizens’ votes based on their ZIP code.â€
While Democrats were filibustering in the Senate, a Republican-controlled House committee endorsed its own version of a proposal Tuesday to make it tougher to alter the state constitution.
The legislation, which is similar to the Senate version, was approved on a party line 11-4 vote by members of the House Elections and Elected Officials Committee.
The House version, sponsored by GOP Reps. John Black of Marshfield and Ed Lewis of Moberly, would require changes to the constitution receive a majority of votes statewide, as well as win in a majority of the state’s congressional districts.
Other features of the measure prohibit foreign governments from sponsoring initiative petitions and from engaging in electoral activity in support of or opposition of a proposed change.
The legislation is Sena
Kurt Erickson of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
Updated at 4 p.m.