Missouri court blocks citizen initiative protection measure from November ballot

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A Missouri court has rejected a request to let voters decide in November whether to erect some of the nation's strongest protections for laws and constitutional amendments passed by citizen initiative.

Citizen initiatives are placed on the ballot in Missouri if voters collect enough signatures. The secretary of state can reject measures that he deems violate the constitution.

The ruling Wednesday by a Cole County judge upholds a decision by Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, who had blocked the amendment from the November ballot despite thousands of petition signatures for it. Hoskins asserted that the measure violated the state constitution by containing multiple subjects and restricting a republican form of government.

The group Respect Missouri Voters, which backed initiative petition, said it will appeal and expects to prevail.

Missouri has been at the center of a national battle over direct democracy. In August, voters overwhelmingly defeated a measure placed on the ballot by lawmakers that would have imposed one of the nation’s toughest standards for passing citizen-initiated amendments.

About half of U.S. states allow citizen initiatives, which give people the power to propose laws or constitutional amendments by collecting petition signatures to place items on the ballot.

Respect Missouri Voters led a petition drive to strengthen voter rights pertaining to initiatives after lawmakers last year repealed a paid sick leave initiative approved by voters in 2024 and referred a new amendment to the November ballot seeking to reverse voter-approved abortion rights.

Attorney Chuck Hatfield, representing Respect Missouri Voters, argued in court that the amendment’s provisions all focus on the single purpose of “protecting and strengthening citizen law-making power.”

But Kathleen Hunker, of the attorney general’s office, argued that the amendment “fuses disparate topics together” in violation of the constitution.

Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green agreed, ruling that the proposal “makes sweeping reforms affecting multiple provisions of the Missouri Constitution.”

The proposed constitutional amendment would have required 80% of lawmakers to vote in favor of repealing or amending voter-approved initiatives in order to change them. It also would have barred the Legislature from increasing the number of signatures needed to qualify for the ballot, shortening the time to collect them or otherwise weakening initiative rights.