When state Rep. Mike Henderson (R-St. Francois) proposed House Joint Resolution (HJR) 43, it was because he believes the Missouri constitution is increasingly being manipulated by out-of-state political action committees.
As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, HJR 43 would have raised the threshold for approving a constitutional amendment to 60%.
“I did not file the bill because of Roe v Wade,” Henderson said. “I filed it because I think our constitution is being manipulated. I think Missouri should be able to have an initiative petition to redo our constitution. I don't think people from California or New York should shape our constitution.”
Currently, approving a ballot initiative only requires a simple majority, which is 50% plus one.
But the legislature failed to approve HJR 43.
“We had it tee-ed up, but a filibuster on the last two days of session prevented us from getting a vote to put it on the ballot to let the people decide,” Henderson told the St. Louis Record.
Eight Republican state senators have picked up where HJR 43 left off by sending a letter to Gov. Mike Parson asking him to call a special session with the goal of proposing an amendment that reforms the standards by which the Missouri Constitution can be altered.
“Last session, there was a debate between protecting our Missouri Constitution by Concurrent Majority Ratification (CMR), or by raising the threshold from a 50 percent simple majority to 54 percent or 60 percent,” the Aug. 17 letter states. “However, in every state that initiative petition reform increasing the percent threshold required to adopt constitutional amendments has been proposed, it has failed….so in order to be successful, Missouri’s proposal should not raise the approval percentage, but, instead, should apply the “majority rules” concept.”
Parson's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
CMR would add a requirement that amendments be approved by a majority of voters in at least half of the House Legislative Districts.
The eight GOP politicians who signed the letter are Rick Brattin (R-Harrisonville, Sen. Bill Eigel (R-Weldon Spring), Denny Hoskins (R-Warrensburg), Jill Carter (R-Granby), Mike Moon (R-Ash Grove), Ben Brown (R-Washington), Andrew Koenig (R-Manchester), and Nick Schroer (R-St. Charles).
Last year, a Virginia-based group called Article IV spent $12 million to slip rank-choice voting on the Missouri ballot but it failed, according to a Freedom Principle MO press release.
Freedom Principle MO is a Missouri-first 501(c)4.
“Our constitution is under threat by out-of-state dark money groups," said Byron Keelin, president of the Freedom Principle MO. "These groups are trying to push harmful policies like Rank-Choice and Approval Voting, abortion on demand, government healthcare, and other job-killing regulations. Concurrent Majority Ratification is the only way to give every Missourian a say in how our constitution should be changed. We hope Governor Parson will have the courage to call the special session."