JEFFERSON CITY — A week after the Missouri House advanced a plan to make it harder for voters to change Missouri’s constitution, a Senate panel took up the issue Monday as one of its top priorities for 2023.
Over an initial three-hour hearing, members outlined a package of proposed changes that would raise the bar on the ability of voters to place questions on the ballot, while also raising the threshold for how the initiatives can be approved.
Republican lawmakers want to crack down on initiative petitions after voters approved a series of progressive-leaning ballot questions, ranging from making marijuana legal to expanding the Medicaid program.
The move comes as abortion-rights supporters have said they are considering a ballot question asking Missourians to overturn the state’s ban on nearly all abortions.
