A handful of proposals to raise the state’s minimum wage have been submitted to the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office to potentially put the issue on the 2024 ballot.
Other proposals would guarantee paid sick leave for Missouri’s workers or establish ranked-choice voting.
And rumblings of a possible constitutional amendment that would roll back Missouri’s abortion ban continue to percolate.
None of these ideas stand a chance in the GOP-dominated state legislature.
So proponents are looking to make an end run around intransigent lawmakers and put these questions directly to voters through the state’s initiative petition process. It’s a method that has been used repeatedly in recent years, including efforts to repeal a right-to-work law, expand Medicaid eligibility and legalize marijuana.
And Republican lawmakers have seemingly had enough.
After years of failed efforts to make it harder to change Missouri’s constitution through the initiative petition process, GOP leaders in both the House and Senate say they will make it a priority to raise the bar in 2023.
“Missourians have sent veto-proof majorities of Republicans to the House and the Senate for more than a decade now, but they have also implemented a number of policies through the initiative process championed and cheered for by those on the political left,” Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, said during a speech on the 2023 legislative session’s opening day.
“Through this process,” he continued, “our...
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