Missouri lawmakers thwart the people’s will all the time. Now they’re targeting petitions
Missouri’s voters’ ability to enact laws on their own is under threat.
State Sen. Cindy O’Laughlin, a Republican from Shelbina, was recently picked as the party’s majority leader for 2023. In an interview with St. Louis Public Radio, she expressed frustration with ballot-based constitutional amendments such as the just-passed recreational marijuana proposal.
“The biggest downside of that is the legislature has no ability then to adjust anything,” she said. “Once it’s in the (state) constitution, it’s in there. And so I think that we’ll look at some reforms for the initiative petition process.”
Other Republicans have voter initiative rights in their sight. The marijuana proposal “is absolutely terrible language to insert into our state constitution and a clear example of why we need (to) raise the signature and approval thresholds for initiative petitions,” state Rep. Josh Hurlbert tweeted in October.
It’s true: Putting the marijuana language in the state’s governing blueprint was not the optimum approach. But let’s be clear. It ended up on the ballot because the legislature, as is so often the case, refused to do its job. The people were left with no real alternative except to do it for themselves.
Any significant change to Missouri’s initiative petition process is antidemocratic. It thwarts progress and the will of the people. It must be resisted by voters next year.
Getting something on the statewide ballot is already hard enough. It takes more than 171,000 valid petition signatures, scattered in at least six of the state’s eight congressional districts, to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot. For a statute, the threshold is lower — around 107,000 signatures.
Once on the ballot, a simple majority of voters can approve an amendment or law.
Missourians have repeatedly used this tool to enact proposals ignored by legislators. Recreational and medical marijuana, Medicaid expansion, minimum wage, labor policies, stem cell research and renewable energy standards are among the laws and amendments put on the ballot by the people in just the last two decades.
These initiatives are not intended merely to supplement the legislative process. They’re meant to circumvent the General Assembly entirely when it obstructs progress. “The people reserve power to propose and enact or reject laws and amendments to the constitution by the initiative, independent of the general assembly,” the Missouri Constitution has said, for more than a century.
This, of course, drives all-knowing legislators crazy. They don’t think the people should have a voice. They want to keep power for themselves.
They’re particularly worried Missourians will sign petitions calling for an amendment on abortion rights in 2024. Voters in other states, including Kansas, have reaffirmed those rights, and that terrifies lawmakers. They know it could happen here.
It should not be easy to change the state constitution, or enact laws, and it isn’t. The signature threshold should be difficult but not impossible. The ballot standard should be a simple majority. In Missouri, every vote is equal, or should be.
In a perfect world, the state constitution wouldn’t be cluttered with policy decisions. But if it’s the only way the people can block lawmakers from meddling, so be it.
Missouri’s state motto remains in place, and cannot be doubted: The welfare of the people, it says, shall be the supreme law. We urge Missourians to call lawmakers this winter, telling them to keep their hands off of petition rights.
