With the Aug. 4 election approaching, some Columbia residents are expressing concerns about Amendment 4, which would change Missouri’s citizen-led initiative process if passed.
As it stands now, a simple majority of voters must approve a ballot measure for a citizen-led initiative to pass. The changes proposed in Amendment 4 would mean a majority of voters in each of the state’s eight congressional districts would need to say “yes” to a measure for it to pass.
Paul Harper, who is a member of the Boone County Democrats Central Committee, said he believes opposition to Amendment 4 is a nonpartisan issue.
“I’ve seen some ‘Yes on 4’ signs out there, but I haven’t actually talked to anybody who thought this was a good thing — and that includes both Republicans and Democrats,” Harper said.
He said the amendment would take power away from people all over the state, regardless of if they live in an urban, suburban or rural area. Harper said the amendment is a “pure power grab.”
“It’s a way for the legislature to consolidate power in Jefferson City and take power away from the citizens,” he added.
Harper also called the amendment “short-sighted” because although Republicans have more power in state government right now, that could change in the future.
Tony Lupo, a former chair of the Boone County Republican Party, said he thinks Amendment 4 might be “too high of a bar” but prefers the proposed change over a simple majority.
“It’s way too easy to pass something,” Lupo said. “We’ve had a couple of issues in the last few years that have passed by just bare, slim majorities, and some of these things aren’t the most well-written pieces of law to amend our constitution.”
Lupo said he would have liked to see a proposal more similar to the process of amending the U.S. Constitution, which requires three quarters of the state legislatures to ratify an amendment. Still, he is leaning toward voting in favor of Amendment 4.
State Rep. Ed Lewis, R-Moberly, sponsored Amendment 4. He said he thinks there should be “broad consensus” to change the state constitution.
“There hasn’t been broad consensus in the last six initiative petitions that have been approved by Missouri voters,” Lewis said. “There’s only been consensus along Interstate 70.”
Lewis said he “absolutely” thought about making the amendment require the approval of five, six or seven congressional districts instead of the proposed eight out of eight.
But he said anything less than eight would potentially mean districts with more Republican voters could make changes to the constitution without approval from districts with more Democratic voters. With the way the amendment is written, he said, both liberals and conservatives would need to reach out to all Missourians to get enough votes for their policies.
“If you’re changing the constitution, I think there should be a high bar, and it should require broad consensus, not just out-of-state money and the counties touching I-70 dictating for the rest of the state what’s going to be in their constitution,” Lewis said.
LiUNA Local 955 representative Andrew Hutchinson said getting a citizen-led initiative on the ballot and then passed is already a “massive amount” of work.
“It’s not easy at all, and I think all you have to do is look and see at how many petitions get filed and how many actually make it to certification, and then that’s just the signatures to make it on the ballot,” Hutchinson said. “That doesn’t even count the work to pass it.”
He said the organization has fought to pass various amendments in the past, including raising the minimum wage and Medicaid expansion.
Members of LiUNA have been door knocking to spread awareness about the potential effects of Amendment 4. Hutchinson said the response they’ve seen is “overwhelmingly” against the amendment, no matter which side of the aisle the person they’re speaking with is on.
Hutchinson also pointed out that LiUNA and the Mid-Missouri Board of Realtors may not always agree on every issue, but they came to the same conclusion on Amendment 4. In early July, members of the Missouri Association of Realtors gathered to speak out against Amendment 4.
“I think when it comes down to it, people know how the initiative petition process works, and they like the ability to vote directly on policy ideas that their fellow citizens went, collected signatures and put it on the ballot,” Hutchinson said.
Lewis said he thinks citizen-led initiatives will still be able to be approved if the changes from Amendment 4 are implemented. He is adamant that people all across Missouri should be in agreement before changes are made to the state constitution.
“If people agree with it, it’ll pass,” Lewis said. “If broad swaths of people around the state don’t agree with it, it shouldn’t pass.”