League advocacy and a record 50-year filibuster in the Missouri Senate blocked passage of a proposal to eliminate the majority rule that has defined Missouri’s citizen initiative process for more than a century. If the two chambers had agree on final language for SJR 74, the Governor was expected to put this constitutional amendment on the ballot in August to require future amendments not proposed by the legislature to receive both a statewide majority AND approval in five of the eight congressional district to pass.
The House versions of SJR 74 and HJR 86 included "ballot candy," language designed to hide the true impact of the measure and gain support from voters who don't know that several items are already banned by law, including foreign interference in initiative petitions and voting by non-citizens. LWVMO President Marilyn McLeod commended Senators of both parties who worked to remove deceptive language so voters understand the real purpose of the amendment.
LWVMO President Marilyn McLeod says, "The initiative process is an important part of democracy in Missouri and the suggested changes would squelch the voice of the people, overturning the sacred principle of one person, one vote."
“Ending majority rule would be a dramatic step backwards for Missouri,” says LWVMO President Marilyn McLeod. “If passed, it would end 100 years of majority rule in Missouri, and taking away your right to decide what happens here. We need to protect our freedom to determine our future in Missouri, not permanently change our constitution to give up our rights. Simple majority rule is common sense and already the law of the land in Missouri.”
Kay Park was in Jeff City on Jan. 30 calling on legislators to preserve majority rule and not change the initiative petition process. Politicians have already delayed efforts to protect reproductive freedom in Missouri. "They are supposed to represent their constituents, not impose their will on them," she says in a letter to the editor.
LWVMO leaders testified against changes to the initiative petition in both House and Senate committees. LWVMO President Marilyn McLeod says it’s ironic that legislators want to change the citizen IP when just a hundred members of the General Assembly can get a constitutional amendment on the ballot with confusing and deceptive language that just needs a majority vote to pass.
This tool of our democracy goes back to 1907, 12 years before the League of Women Voters was founded. It’s been used by both political parties when the legislature hasn’t addressed things people want, including Medicaid Expansion and medical marijuana.
The initiative petition was used to pass the Hancock Amendment that set taxation and spending limits. As former governor John Ashcroft said in 1992, “It is through the initiative process that those who have no influence with elective representatives may take their cause directly to the people.”
The League believes initiative petitions make Missouri’s democracy work, giving voters a stronger voice in state government. So far this cycle, LWVMO has endorsed petitions sponsored by Missourians for Constitutional Freedom and the Missourians for Healthy Families and Fair Wages.
