A Senate committee met Monday to hear 12 bills regarding initiative petition reform.
The proposed bills presented on Mon. Jan. 29th, have their differences, but most centered on altering the process needed to get a ballot measure passed through a constitutional amendment.
Initiative petitions have been a major focus of conservative Republicans. The proposed legislation would change the current requirement of a statewide majority vote to include majority support in most state House districts.
Senator Bill Eigel said the issue is a matter of giving more power to rural districts. "No, I’ve been very clear that I’m not looking for direct democracy to be the number one method of changing our founding document. I’ve been very clear that we should have a consensus built in this state", said Eigel.
Democrats countered that Republicans were trying to lure voters by including what Senator John Rizzo called “ballot candy,” such as language stating that only citizens could vote, despite there being similar language already included in the constitution.
This story is from a statewide news partnership with the Missouri News Network— a collaboration with the University of Missouri School of Journalism, KBIA, and the Missouri Broadcasters Association.