PARKVILLE, Mo. — As the Missouri Legislature gets set to reconvene for a special session, the Trump-backed redistricting effort is drawing headlines, but it’s another effort that could reshape Show-Me State politics for years to come.
Gov. Mike Kehoe also wants the legislature to reform the initiative petition process, which allows voters to gather signatures and put issues to a statewide vote.
“It's fair to say that the top line is the redistricting, because that's what we've been focusing on for weeks,” said Matt Harris, an associate professor of political science at Park University. “That's what we thought was coming, OK, but this initiative petition reform is potentially more impactful.”
Missouri voters have expanded Medicaid, legalized marijuana, passed sports gambling and enshrined women’s reproductive rights in the state constitution in recent years through the initiative petition process.
The Republican-controlled legislature opposed or blocked each effort at the Missouri Capitol, but a majority of the state’s residents passed changes when given a chance.
“That avenue has allowed for a lot of legislation, or a lot of constitutional amendments and things, to pass that maybe wouldn't have otherwise,” Harris said. “... It does allow for more liberal policy positions than you would get in a state that didn't have those, given how conservative the legislature is. It allows for sort of an end run around the legislature on a lot of things that they would not be in favor of passing."
Through the initiative process, residents gather signatures, roughly 171,000, to force a statewide vote. If a majority of voters approve, it becomes law, but the Missouri GOP would like to make that process more difficult.
Among the changes the Republican supermajority sought during a failed attempt at reform in last spring’s legislative session, Kehoe and company want to change the process to require passage in a majority of federal congressional districts — or five of eight districts, essentially giving rural areas veto power over the more densely populated urban cores.
“Targeting the initiative petition process is something that's been kicked around for a few years,” Harris said. “I think it's just a matter of you have Republican supermajorities, but you also have this liberal or libertarian streak that exists in Missouri voters. ... These forms of direct democracy mean that the legislature doesn't have a stranglehold.”
Any effort to change the initiative petition process, ironically, would have to go before voters.
A bill to make changes to Missouri’s initiative petition process is expected to be filed Wednesday, with the Missouri House of Representatives set to reconvene next week to take up the legislation.
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KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.
