Missouri initiative petition bill, a top GOP priority, dies on final day of session

By Rudi Keller and Anna Spoerre

Missouri Independent

The Missouri Senate put its dysfunction on display one last time Friday when it adjourned minutes after reconvening, effectively killing efforts to send voters a ballot measure changing the majority needed to pass constitutional amendments.

(Photo- Missouri House Speaker Dean Plocher addresses media Friday, the final day of the legislative session.- Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)

The decision to quit almost eight hours before the constitutional deadline shows how little tolerance Republican leadership had for remaining in the same room with their factional foes in the Missouri Freedom Caucus.

The motion to adjourn was made by Senate Majority Leader Cindy O’Laughlin, who said that after days of ugly confrontations between senators, “I thought it would be good to end in a more cordial way.”

The Missouri House continued to work on legislation. The only notice taken of the Senate’s absence was a burst of laughter when the clerk announced there were “no messages to be read in from the Senate.”

Just an hour before the Senate quit for the day, House Speaker Dean Plocher held a news conference demanding the Senate do what the House has done several times – pass the proposal to require a majority vote in five of the state’s eight congressional districts as well as a statewide majority to approve constitutional amendments.

“This is not our problem,” Plocher said. “This is not our mess.”

With no chance of an August ballot measure to alter the majority requirements, and an initiative petition legalizing abortion undergoing signature checks, the result could be the GOP’s worst fear – that all the restrictive legislation passed over the past two decades of Republican legislative control could be undone.

If abortion gets on the ballot and wins, the Senate is to blame, Plocher said.

“The burden of abortion falls squarely on the Senate and its leadership,” Plocher said.

Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden rejected that statement, saying the House could vote to place the initiative petition measure on the ballot before the legislature adjourns if it so chooses.

The election on abortion isn’t lost yet, he said

“The notion that (initiative petition) reform being on the ballot is the magic bullet to make sure that the abortion (initiative) doesn’t pass is ridiculous,” Rowden said. “It’s going to take Republicans and conservatives and folks who disagreed on IP to get out to the ballot and vote against that thing in November.”

One reason the measure failed is unwavering opposition by Democrats to provisions added to the bill that would bar non-citizens from voting on constitutional amendments, something that hasn’t been allowed in Missouri since 1924, as well as banning foreign governments or political parties from sponsoring or spending in support of initiatives.

Democrats filibustered for 21 hours in February before the sponsor, state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, an Arnold Republican, agreed to remove those provisions, derided by opponents as “ballot candy” intended to entice voters with issues unrelated to how majorities are determined.

When the bill was before a House committee, Coleman urged them to reinstate the provisions and the House did so before returning the bill.

That triggered the longest filibuster in state history, with Democrats holding the floor for 50 hours this week to block the measure from a final vote. It ended only when Coleman agreed to ask the House to remove those provisions or engage in negotiations.

“Republicans wanted to make it harder to amend the constitution,” Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo of Independence said at a news conference. “We recognize they have a supermajority, but we won’t let them trick people.”

The issue isn’t dead, said House Majority Leader Jon Patterson of Lee’s Summit and presumptive speaker when the new legislature meets in January.

Patterson thinks the urgency to change the majority threshold will remain.

“The House has stood firm that we believe in life, that we believe in constitutional (initiative petition) reform,” Patterson said.

It was clear Plocher at least partially blamed the Freedom Caucus – six Senators when the session began but five when it ended because of disagreements over tactics – for the failure of the proposal changing majorities.

“Reading books on the floor does not solve Missouri’s problems,” Plocher said.

The Freedom Caucus had the record for a filibuster – 41 hours – for two weeks after members held the floor demanding that the proposal on constitutional majorities be brought to an immediate vote. Members spent much of that time reading books about religion and other subjects.

The 41-hour filibuster ended only when Freedom Caucus members were assured every means to pass the proposal – including a rarely used motion to cut off debate – had a majority of 18 votes, said state Sen. Denny Hoskins, a Warrensburg Republican.

“We would not have sat down two weeks ago on (Medicaid provider taxes) if we were confident that we had a deal done,” Hoskins said.

Throughout the debate on the measure changing initiative petition majorities, Republicans have cited recently approved initiatives on legislative redistricting, expanding Medicaid eligibility and legalizing recreational marijuana as examples of an abuse of the initiative process. The proposals were funded in large part by money from outside the state and each included ballot candy provisions unrelated to the essential change in law being sought.

“I don’t believe,” Plocher said, “you should be able to buy your way into Missouri and pass laws.”

Rowden, however, said the idea that ballot candy is needed for changes to the majority threshold to pass is “a slap in the face to Missouri voters. Missourians are absolutely smarter than the people in this chamber give them credit for. “

Sen. Rick Brattin of Harrisonville, speaking for the Freedom Caucus at a news conference, defended the ballot candy provisions as giving voters a simpler question, easier to understand than changing the majority as a standalone issue.

“You would have to have a lot of intensive funding to be able to get a message out, because (the initiative petition process) is a very convoluted, difficult thing to explain to voters,” Brattin said. “And we wanted to make sure we’re putting stuff in front of people that’s easy, that doesn’t require $60 million to try to get the message out.”

Jason Hancock of The Independent staff contributed to this report.