Missouri House Advances Bill Raising Bar for Constitutional Amendments

The Missouri House has advanced a bill that would make it harder for voters to amend the state constitution through voter initiatives. The bill, which passed largely on partisan lines with five Republican dissenters, requires another House approval before moving to the Senate. If it passes the Senate, it will go to voters. The proposal mandates that constitutional amendments initiated by voters need a simple majority statewide and in all eight congressional districts to pass. In the last general election, 311,915 votes were cast in the 1st District out of 2,960,266 statewide votes, meaning approximately 156,000 voters, or 5.3% of the statewide vote, could prevent a citizen-led initiative petition from passing. The bill does not affect constitutional amendments proposed by state lawmakers. Republican state Rep. Ed Lewis of Moberly argued that changes to state statutes should be separate from constitutional amendments, emphasizing the need for broad support across all congressional districts for constitutional changes. Democratic state Rep. David Tyson Smith of Columbia criticized a provision in the legislation as 'ballot candy,' designed to mislead voters into supporting changes to the initiative petition process.