Missouri Lawmakers Override the Will of the People, Defying the Constitution They Swore to Uphold
Back in December, I wrote, “Lawmakers Think Missouri Voters Are Ignorant. Are They?” — a look at how the Republican supermajority has been working to undo the people's will by overturning recent ballot initiatives. True to their word, they’re now trying to pass new laws and use gaslighting tactics to dismantle voter-approved measures like Amendment 3, which restores the right to obtain an abortion up to the point of fetal viability, and Proposition A. This law increases the minimum wage over time and requires employers to pay for earned sick leave. Both ballot initiatives were approved by voters statewide in last November’s General Election.
Gaslighting, by definition, is psychological manipulation that makes people question their own reasoning — and that’s exactly what’s happening in Jefferson City. With just weeks left in the legislative session, one phrase echoes through the Capitol, committee hearings, floor debates, and media interviews: “Voters just didn’t know what they were voting for.”
Missouri’s Ballot Initiative Process, a.k.a. Direct Democracy
Missouri is one of 26 states with a ballot initiative or referendum process that allows citizens to collect signatures to place a new statute or constitutional amendment on the ballot. The right of ordinary citizens to redress their government has been enshrined in the Missouri Constitution for 117 years since 1908. This is called direct democracy. Modern-day lawmakers don’t like the ballot initiative process because they do not like to have their power usurped.
Citizen-initiated ballot measures are not easy to pass. Those seeking to amend the constitution must gather signatures equal to 8% of all registered voters in two-thirds of the state's eight congressional districts. Proponents must collect signatures equal to 5% of registered voters in two-thirds of the congressional districts to amend an existing state statute or to propose new laws. For either of these ballot measures to become effective, they must receive a simple majority of votes in a statewide election.
Voters must approve any change to Missouri’s constitution. However, in addition to citizen-led ballot initiatives, the legislature, with approval from the governor, can also propose amendments to the state constitution and have them placed on the ballot for voter approval.
The History of Citizen-Led Efforts is Not Pretty
Pretty straightforward, right? Not so fast. As the Republican party has solidified its majority rule over Missouri’s legislative and executive branches over the past 20 years, its ideology has moved more toward the extreme right, which has been reflected in the laws it has passed. The authors of the Missouri constitution foresaw this possibility of entrenched lawmakers and humbly provided the initiative petition process, which has become an essential tool for citizens seeking redress from their government to amend the Missouri Constitution and enact laws that politicians in the legislature have refused to consider. Recently, the Republican supermajority has worked to undermine ballot measures, going as far as refusing to implement changes that voters have lawfully approved. The examples are many: ethics reform, the drawing of fair legislative and congressional districts, outlawing puppy mills, expanding Medicaid, and now restoring the right to reproductive healthcare, increasing the minimum wage, and requiring earned sick pay benefits for employees.
In 2021, Missouri Republicans refused to expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act, which would have provided basic medical insurance to lower-income working people whose jobs did not offer medical benefits and otherwise could not afford insurance. As a result of lawmakers’ failure to address the healthcare crisis, many hospitals in rural Missouri closed, and hundreds of thousands of workers went without medical care across the state. Finally, citizens organized an initiative petition to expand Medicaid, and it was approved statewide with 53% of the vote.
Nevertheless, Republicans in the legislature refused to fund even a small part (5%) of its cost (the federal government pays for 95%). Rep. Dave Griffith of Jefferson City voted against funding the expansion because most voters in his district did not support the Medicaid expansion petition. But according to the Missouri constitution, that’s not how it works. You don’t get to pick and choose where you follow the law and where you can ignore it. It’s just one of many instances where local politicians have shown disdain for the rule of law to score political points. In response, the Missouri Supreme Court ordered the state fully fund its expansion portion.
Still, during each legislative session, including the present, Republicans have attempted to pass legislation that will make it harder for citizens to collect signatures for petitions and have those petitions certified by the Secretary of State to appear on the ballot. That includes increasing the number of signatures required to put the measure on the ballot and mandating a threshold greater than a simple majority for passage once it is presented to the voters on their ballots.
This week in MOLEG: SB 22 & Prop A
Here is an update on the status of two bills: one affecting citizens' right to redress their government through the ballot measure process and the other overturning a ballot initiative passed by voters last November.
Senate Bill 22
On Thursday, April 24, 2025, Governor Kehoe signed Senate Bill 22 into law that will diminish the role of the courts to ensure that fair and reasonable language is presented to voters on measures to amend the constitution. Republicans in Missouri are particularly adept at trying to deceive voters with misleading or biased ballot language. For example, they have employed the tactic of using “ballot candy,” which involves pairing a popular or more common-sense proposal with a more unpopular or controversial provision on the ballot to trick voters into voting “yes.”
Last year, former Secretary John Ashcroft attempted to dictate ballot language on Amendment 3 that was argumentative and prejudicial to his own personal views, causing a Missouri court to step in and write the language itself. Republicans have since wanted to shift the balance of power away from the courts and give the Secretary of State more leeway in determining the final ballot language.
Senate Bill 22 makes two significant changes affecting the initiative petition process. First, it mandates that challenges to ballot language must be brought in the circuit court of Cole County. During litigation leading to determining the final ballot language for Amendment 3, Circuit Court Judge Chris Limbaugh, cousin of the late right-wing broadcaster Rush Limbaugh, had issued a ruling considered favorable to the opponents of Amendment 3 (later overturned).
Second, under the current law, if the circuit court in Cole County finds that the language is insufficient or unfair, it can direct the Secretary of State to rewrite it. The Secretary will be given three opportunities to revise the language before the court steps in and writes the language itself.
These changes could give challengers a better chance of obtaining a judge who may be more sympathetic to their cause and increase their chances of having deceptive language approved. They will also needlessly delay the process of verifying signatures and finalizing ballot language, allowing politicians to “run out the clock” and prevent the measure from getting on the ballot.
Democrat Ashley Aune, Minority House Leader called Senate Bill 22 an attempt to overturn Amendment 3 and make the amendment process more difficult. "The two key achievements of the House Republicans this week was to strip Missourians of their rights while empowering themselves to lie to voters," she said during a press conference April 17.
Efforts to overturn Proposition A (Minimum Wage and Earned Sick Leave)
Voters approved Proposition A in the general election in November 2024. It increases the state's minimum wage to $13.75 per hour in 2025, with a further increase to $15 per hour in 2026. Thereafter, yearly increases are pegged to the inflation rate, removing vulnerability to political whims. It also mandated that employers provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked. The law allows employees to begin accruing sick leave on May 1, 2025. It passed by a statewide margin of about 58% to 42%.
The Missouri Chamber of Commerce, several retailer associations, and conservative think tanks filed a suit with the Missouri Supreme Court to block its enactment. Various bills have also been filed in the current legislative session, some to change certain aspects of the bill’s requirements or delay their implementation. However, the Senate is now considering a bill (HB 567) that will terminate the scheduled yearly increase in the minimum wage once it reaches $15 per hour in 2026 and repeal the paid sick leave requirements in their entirety. In other words, it will eliminate what Missouri voters have just approved. The bill, which has already passed the House, is being managed in the Senate by Sen. Mike Bernskoetter of Jefferson City.
Once again, Republicans claim Missourians didn’t understand what they were voting for. Nowhere is that contempt clearer than in comments from Sen. Rick Brattin, a former Marine and small construction business owner, on the Senate floor, where he railed against the “problem” of direct democracy and scoffed that voters have no “skin in the game.” “People can moan, and they can groan,” he said, “but it’s the ones that moan and groan that are probably not the ones signing the fronts of the checks.”
Video of Rick Brattin’s speech.
But here’s the truth: those same voters do sign the back of those checks — and they’re worrying about making ends meet, particularly when they must miss work or their children are sick. For Brattin and his colleagues to ignore their voices is more than arrogance; it’s a blatant act of class warfare. Lawmakers are siding only with business interests while sacrificing the very people who elected them to office. And in doing so, they trample the Missouri Constitution’s promise that “all political power is vested in and derived from the people.”
Earlier in the month, Senate Democrats filibustered HB 567 to protect Prop A. But on Wednesday, the bill returned to the floor. After some debate and additional amendments submitted by Democrats, no action was taken on the bill as of April 24, and it was placed back on the Senate’s informal calendar. Senate Majority Leader Cynthia O’Laughlin promised the bill would be back. The laws adopted under Prop A permit employees to begin accruing sick leave time on May 1, 2025. The Senate must act quickly if it intends to nullify Proposition A’s requirements entirely. An “emergency clause” will likely be attached to the HB567, asking the governor to sign the bill immediately. The House will also be required to act on the emergency clause as well.
Will This Be the End of Majority Rule?
The Missouri Senate will likely consider an additional bill to essentially end the majority rule for ballot measures this coming week. Once placed on the ballot, citizen-led measures pass or fail based on a simple majority of votes statewide, just like any candidate that runs for state office. Senate Joint Resolution 47 (SJR 47) will require ballot measures to obtain not only a majority of votes statewide but also must win in a majority of state house districts as well.
This “double majority” standard will be almost impossible to achieve. Even if a majority of voters approve the measure, it could easily fail. So much for “one person, one vote.” If the Senate passes SJR 47, it must be taken up in a House committee, survive a vote on the House floor, and then be signed by the Governor, all within the next three weeks of the session. Because it changes the standards for adopting ballot measures in the state constitution, it will need to be approved by voters in a future election…ironically, by a simple majority vote.
Despite these repeated betrayals of the public will, Missouri voters continue to elect lawmakers who show little regard for their voices or their welfare. The Republican supermajority has habitually overturned ballot initiatives passed by the people. As long as elected officials feel empowered to disregard the will of the people without consequence, this cycle will continue. Until voters hold them accountable, Missouri’s government will remain one that is not of, by, or for the people but serves only those in power.
Late Breaking News
The Missouri Independent reports that on Friday, attorney Chuck Hatfield filed a lawsuit in Cole County Circuit Court on behalf of longtime progressive activist Sean Nicholson, arguing that senate Bill 22 violates the constitution in six ways. The Missouri Monitor will cover this lawsuit and the related activities of the Missouri legislature in the upcoming election.
Get Involved
The Respect Missouri Voters Coalition has filed an initiative proposal to add new protections for initiative measures to the state constitution. The group is working to pass legislation that will prevent politicians from:
Interfering with initiatives that voters have already passed.
Attacking citizens' ability to use the initiative process.
Manipulating language on ballots to trick and mislead voters.
For more information or to get involved, visit
https://www.respectmovoters.org/
The Missouri Voter Protection Coalition is also working to protect voter rights and the ballot initiative process. Learn more and get involved with MOVPC at
https://www.movpc.org/
References:
https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/mo_constitutions_race/4/
https://www.sos.mo.gov/CMSImages/Publications/CurrentMissouriConstitution.pdf
https://ballotpedia.org/Types_of_ballot_measures_in_Missouri#Veto_referendums
https://www.newstribune.com/news/2025/apr/25/governor-signs-tort-reform-ballot-language-bills/
Conceal and carry, puppy mills, gerrymandering, this is so typical! Keep us posted.