Senate approves bill to end majority rule in Missouri

By SHERI GASSAWAY
Assistant Editor

After a Democratic filibuster that lasted almost 30 hours, the Missouri Senate approved a bill that would make it harder to change the state constitution through the citizen initiative process.

The proposed measure, SJR 74, is a combination of several similar bills introduced by Republicans in the Senate and the House to sabotage the initiative petition process by ending majority rule on constitutional amendments by voters. SJR 74 is sponsored by Rep. Mary Coleman (R-Arnold).

UNRELATED PROVISIONS
One of the reasons Democrats were filibustering is because of three provisions unrelated to the bill that were added in hopes tricking voters into passing the change at the ballot box. Senator Doug Beck (D-Affton), a member of Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 562, called the provisions “ballot candy.” Those provisions included:

• Restricting voting on constitutional amendments to U.S. citizens only. Being a U.S. citizen is already a requirement to vote under federal law.
• Prohibiting foreign funding of constitutional amendments. Federal law already prohibits foreign spending in U.S. elections.
• A series of bans on future constitutional amendments. 

‘BALLOT CANDY WAS STRIPPED’
Coleman made an amendment to remove the series of bans on future constitutional amendments, and nine Democrats and nine Republicans approved removing the other two unrelated provisions.

“The Democrats were up for 29 hours filibustering, and they came to a resolution that all the ‘ballot candy’ was stripped off,” said Missouri AFL-CIO President Jake Hummel.

“We know that the House does not agree with that proposal. And the House has already said they’re going to add all that stuff back in and send it back over (to the Senate). If one of the versions passes both chambers it will go before the voters to decide.”

Under current law, it takes only a simple majority to change the state constitution. Voters have used the initiative petition process in recent years to approve several progressive ballot questions, including Medicaid expansion, increasing the state minimum wage and legalizing marijuana, critical issues the Republicans ignored.

In its current form, SJR 74 would require all proposed constitutional amendments to win a simple majority statewide as well as a majority in five of eight congressional districts. If approved by both chambers, voters would decide on the issue in August.

Carson Pope, Missouri AFL-CIO political director, said the legislature is trying to dismantle the initiative petition process. He told delegates of the St. Louis Labor Council last week that he has seen Republican legislative proposals to raise the statewide threshold to 55 percent, 57 percent and even 63 to 66 percent.

‘CONVOLUTED’
“Their proposal is to institute a convoluted, and very confusing to voters concurrent majority,” Pope said. “This where you would have to pass a certain statewide threshold whether that is 50 percent plus one or even higher than that, in addition to passing in a majority of Congressional districts or state House districts or state Senate districts, or some convoluted combination of the three.”

Republicans are moving with urgency to pass some kind of legislation to advance changes to the initiative petition because of a pro-abortion rights campaign collecting signatures to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot later this year.

SJR 74 needs a third reading in the Senate before it advances to the House.