Initiative petition changes remain a priority for legislature
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JEFFERSON CITY — Changing the initiative petition process has been a hot topic in the Missouri legislature over the past few years.
Citizen-led initiatives that passed in recent elections include legalizing marijuana, establishing a right to an abortion and raising the state’s minimum wage. These initiative movements happened after the legislature declined to address those issues.
Bills being proposed by the Republican supermajority in the legislature address a multitude of lawmakers’ concerns:
They think courts have too much power in writing initiative ballot summaries.
They want to create more restrictions on the qualifications of petition circulators for fear of those collecting signatures who aren’t Missouri residents.
They want rural voters to have more influence on passage of initiatives.
Here is a deeper look at proposals being considered in the legislature.
Initiative passage
Currently, to get an initiative on a ballot regarding a proposed constitutional amendment, 8% of the voters in two-thirds of Missouri’s congressional districts must sign the petition.
A proposed joint resolution, Senate Joint Resolution 11, seeks to raise this requirement to 15% of voters in each congressional district. The resolution also says it would require 10% of voters’ signatures to get an initiative about a law on the ballot, which is double the percentage required now.
Another proposed joint resolution, SJR 10, would impose stricter passage of ballot initiatives in an election. Unlike the current requirement of a simple majority, the resolution states that a constitutional amendment can only pass on a ballot after receiving a simple majority of votes statewide plus a majority in at least five of the state’s eight congressional districts.
Sen. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, is sponsoring this resolution. He said he supports it because it would encourage groups seeking to put initiatives on the ballot to focus their efforts on rural areas as much as urban.
In rural U.S. House District 8 in southeast Missouri, all 28 counties saw fewer than half of their residents voted for Amendment 3 to pass in the last election according to an analysis by the Beacon Missouri.
“When you allow for the initiative petition process, voters decide what to do to get results independently of the legislature,” said Rep. David Tyson Smith, D-Columbia. “People in power don’t want that. They want to have all of the power, so they want to make it more difficult for the citizens to get what they want.”
The changes called for in the resolutions would have to be approved by voters in 2026 if approved by legislators this year.
Petition circulation
One House bill, HB 575, restricts the requirements to be a petition circulator. The House gave its initial approval for it to move onto the Senate.
The 1999 Buckley v. American Constitutional Law Foundation case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court set the precedent that petition circulators are not required to be registered voters; however, states can require the circulators to be residents as a less restrictive way of protecting against fraud. For example, North Dakota doesn’t have voter registration, so petition circulators must be “qualified” voters, meaning 18 years old or older and state residents.
As of 2014, petition circulators in Missouri must be 18 or older and register with the secretary of state. HB 575, if passed, will require petition circulators to be U.S. citizens, residents of Missouri or have been in Missouri for 30 consecutive days before collecting signatures.
Rep. Brad Banderman, R-St. Clair, who is sponsoring this bill, said that the proposed petition circulator requirements will begin to “standardize” the process throughout the Eighth Circuit, which includes both North Dakota and Missouri. The bill also requires signatures to be printed on a form specified by the secretary of state, and the signatures must be in black or dark ink.
“Obviously, if someone goes through the trouble of signing one of these things, we want their signature to count,” Banderman said.
The bill changes who can challenge an official ballot title for a constitutional amendment, initiative petition, or referendum measure to only registered Missouri voters. Currently, any citizen can legally dispute these to the secretary of state.
Ballot summaries
Similar to changing how initiative ballot titles are disputed, legislators also aim to pass new provisions in a bill on how ballot summaries are written.
SB 22, passed the Senate and is before the House Elections Committee. The bill says that if the legislature adopts a resolution proposing a constitutional amendment, the summary statement will appear on the ballot as written by the legislature.
If the court finds the summary legally flawed, the secretary of state will have up to three chances to rewrite it. Currently a judge can rewrite the summary. The bill also doubles the word limit on the summary from 50 to 100 words.
“The court is not fully removed,” said Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, who is sponsoring the bill. “It’s basically three bites of the apple, and if it still doesn’t meet that criteria, they still have the capability after those three attempts to write it. The checks and balances are still there, but the silos of authority aren’t overstepped by the court.”
Brattin said that the judicial branch was never meant to be the author of any legislation and that this bill is “righting that inconsistency.”
“Senate Bill 22, the horrific ‘Let Politicians Lie Act,’ is a classic example of how far politicians will go to trick voters by putting misleading language on the ballot,” said Benjamin Singer, CEO of Show Me Integrity and co-founder of the Respect Voters Coalition.
The Respect Voters Coalition is on the offensive to prevent the government from restricting the right to petition. The group filed a citizen initiative proposing an amendment barring the Missouri legislature from “weakening citizen’s direct lawmaking power” with the secretary of state last December.
If this amendment gains enough signatures for the 2026 ballot, it will prohibit raising signature thresholds and shortening the time allowed for signature collection. It would also secure the freedom to petition a wide variety of subject matters.
