Republican lawmakers again advocated for amending Missouri’s century-old initiative petition process during a committee hearing Tuesday (Getty Images).
Republican lawmakers’ latest attempt to change Missouri’s century-old initiative petition process was met with widespread opposition Tuesday.
Hanging over the proceedings, though hardly discussed on Tuesday, were a pair of initiative petition campaigns seeking to put an amendment on the statewide ballot rolling back Missouri near-total ban on abortion.
One of the campaigns has already reported raising $2 million to bankroll its efforts, amplifying the sense of GOP urgency to get changes to the process done before any abortion amendment goes to voters.
State Rep. Ed Lewis of Moberly put forth two bills looking to require any amendments to the state constitution receive a majority of votes statewide and in a majority of the state’s congressional districts.
Currently, a constitutional amendment placed on the ballot through the initiative petition process only requires 51% to pass.