JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Citizen activists on Wednesday began gathering signatures for a proposed constitutional amendment intended to limit the Missouri Legislature’s ability to undo voter-approved measures, setting up a likely clash with Republican lawmakers who are advancing a competing amendment that would make it harder for citizen-initiated amendments to pass.
The Respect Missouri Voters Coalition erected a tent outside the Capitol and launched a petition drive for a measure that would require only a simple statewide majority to approve ballot initiatives, bar the Legislature from increasing signature thresholds to qualify initiatives, and prevent lawmakers from changing or repealing citizen-initiated laws or constitutional amendments unless 80% of both the House and Senate vote to put revisions before voters. Republican lawmakers meanwhile have proposed an amendment that would require citizen-initiated constitutional amendments to receive a majority vote in each of Missouri’s eight congressional districts to pass, while measures placed on the ballot by the Legislature would continue to need only a statewide majority.
Supporters of the citizen-backed measure say it is a response to recent actions by legislators who moved to repeal laws approved by voters, including a voter-approved paid sick leave law and a referral to the ballot seeking to undo an abortion-rights amendment passed last November. Organizers said they plan to collect about 300,000 signatures — roughly 75% more than the number needed to qualify for the ballot — a cushion they say will guard against technical challenges and other obstacles.
"I want our legislators to stop overturning the will of the people," said Lauren Bakker, a suburban St. Louis resident who was among the first to sign. Benjamin Singer, co-founder of the Respect Missouri Voters Coalition, said the Legislature’s proposal underscores the problem the petition seeks to fix and that the two measures could appear alongside each other on the 2026 ballot, presenting voters with competing options.
Republican proponents of the legislative amendment say the citizen initiative process has been used to insert complex and controversial policies into the state constitution — often with support from wealthy out-of-state donors — and that a higher bar would ensure broader statewide consensus. "To change our constitution should be harder," said state Rep. Bill Lucas, a Republican. "If you’re going to change the constitution of Missouri, you will have to have broad consensus," said Rep. Ed Lewis, who is sponsoring the GOP-backed proposal supported by Gov. Mike Kehoe.
Democrats and initiative advocates say the proposed congressional-district requirement would make it nearly impossible for citizen-led amendments to succeed. "In effect, it's saying we're going to kill the initiative process," said Liz Kester of Columbia, who is helping collect signatures for the Respect Missouri Voters measure. Democratic state Rep. Marty Joe Murray of St. Louis noted the difficulty of achieving unanimous district-level outcomes. "I can’t even get eight out of eight of my family members to decide what we want to cook at our family reunion, let alone get eight congressional districts to all be in line," he said.
Missouri’s debate reflects a broader national trend in which state legislatures — particularly those controlled by Republicans — have moved to restrict direct democracy. The Fairness Project, a progressive group that has supported ballot initiatives in multiple states, said nearly 150 bills were introduced this year across 15 state legislatures seeking to make it harder for initiatives to qualify for the ballot or to win approval, nearly double the number two years ago.
Some of the new measures in other states have been dramatic. Florida passed a law that allows felony charges against individuals who collect more than 25 signed ballot petitions, other than their own or those of immediate family members, without registering as petition circulators. Republican-led legislatures in North Dakota and South Dakota have referred measures to future ballots proposing a 60% public vote threshold to approve constitutional amendments. Colorado and Florida already require higher-than-majority thresholds for some measures — 55% and 60%, respectively.
Dane Waters, founder of the Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California, said lawmakers across the country have increasingly enacted restrictions on citizens' use of direct democracy as a check on legislative power. "Lawmakers have consistently around the country enacted restrictions on the citizens' ability to use direct democracy as a check and balance on their power," Waters said.
Missouri’s Republican-backed House proposal, which passed Tuesday and is pending in the Senate, would create a unique dual standard: citizen-initiated amendments would face a district-by-district test while legislative referrals would require only a statewide majority. No other state has a similar dual threshold, and critics argue it would effectively neuter citizen-driven constitutional change.
Supporters of the citizen initiative say the measure also would block the Legislature from changing signature requirements and other procedural rules that can make it harder for petition drives to qualify for the ballot. John Billman of Columbia, who said he had signed petitions for the paid sick leave and abortion-rights measures, said he added his name on Wednesday because he grew tired of seeing voter-approved measures undone by lawmakers.
If both measures qualify for the ballot in 2026, Missourians could face a clear choice between preserving the existing simple-majority, citizen-initiative process and imposing new hurdles that would favor legislative control over constitutional amendments. The competing campaigns are likely to frame the debate around representation and who should ultimately decide the state’s fundamental law: the people directly, or the representatives they elect.
The petitions and legislative process in Jefferson City set up what could be a high-stakes political fight in the coming year as groups on both sides build campaigns to sway voters on how Missouri’s constitution may be changed in the future.