Strengthening Fairness and Integrity in Missouri’s Ballot Initiative Process
SB 22 has been truly agreed to and finally passed by the Missouri General Assembly to bring clarity, fairness, and efficiency to the process surrounding summary statements for statewide ballot measures. The legislation requires that all legal challenges to these summary statements be filed in the Cole County Circuit Court no later than the 22nd Tuesday prior to the general election. This centralized approach promotes consistency and avoids the confusion of forum shopping. If a court finds a summary statement to be insufficient or unfair, it can require the Secretary of State to revise it up to three times. If all revised versions are still deemed inadequate, the court is empowered to draft a fair summary statement itself. For ballot measures placed on the ballot through special elections or those called by the Governor, courts are directed to expedite the process to ensure a timely resolution before ballots are printed and may shorten time frames accordingly.
Additionally, the bill extends the deadline for final legal rulings on ballot title challenges from 56 to 70 days prior to the election, allowing courts more time to carefully consider cases. It also doubles the word limit for ballot summaries prepared by the General Assembly from 50 to 100 words, offering greater flexibility to provide voters with more informative summaries. To protect citizen petitioners, the bill ensures that signature gathering may begin once the Secretary of State certifies the official ballot title, even if a legal challenge is pending. If the title changes due to court action, the signatures already collected remain valid so long as they were otherwise legally gathered. Lastly, the bill affirms the Attorney General’s authority to appeal preliminary injunctions that prevent the state from enforcing its constitution or laws. For injunctions already in place before August 28, 2025, the Attorney General must file an appeal by September 12, 2025.
This legislation is necessary to preserve the integrity of Missouri’s ballot initiative process by ensuring voters receive clear and impartial summaries, protecting the constitutional rights of citizens engaged in petition efforts, and affirming the state’s ability to defend its laws from judicial overreach. It’s about delivering a process that is transparent, predictable, and ultimately accountable to Missouri voters.
Protecting Life and Safeguarding Children
This week, the Missouri House advanced HJR 73, a proposed constitutional amendment that aims to clearly define the state’s stance on reproductive health care, abortion, and gender transition treatments for minors. If approved by voters, this amendment would prohibit abortions except in cases of medical emergencies, fetal anomalies, or when the pregnancy results from rape or incest. In those latter cases, abortion would only be permitted up to 12 weeks gestational age. It would also ban the use of public funds to pay for abortions and prohibit the use of surgeries, hormones, or drugs to assist a child with a gender transition.
The proposal clarifies that a woman’s right to reproductive freedom includes access to care during miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, and other medical emergencies. It also specifies legal jurisdiction for challenges to the amendment and holds medical professionals liable for damages—and subject to license suspension or revocation—if they intentionally or negligently violate the amendment’s provisions. The General Assembly would retain authority to enact laws to carry out and enforce these provisions.
Supporters argue the amendment is necessary to address gaps and ambiguity in current law. They claim prior votes on related issues were shaped by misleading information and heavy influence from out-of-state interests, leaving voters unaware of the full implications—including the possibility of abortions based on a child’s race, sex, or Down syndrome diagnosis. To them, the amendment is about restoring ethical medical standards and protecting Missouri’s most vulnerable populations.
I recognize that some people wish this would completely reverse Amendment 3, yet I believe that there are times we must take incremental steps to move forward. This is why I believe supporting HJR 73 allows us to protect as many women and families as possible while continuing to fight for further protections in the future.
Opponents contend that the people of Missouri have already voted on this issue, and that revisiting it is both unnecessary and dismissive of voters’ understanding. They argue that abortion is fundamentally a health care procedure and that placing a 12-week limit on victims of rape or incest fails to account for the trauma, delay in reporting, and difficulty accessing appropriate care.
With the passage of HJR 73, it now heads to the Missouri Senate for consideration. If passed by the Missouri General Assembly, the proposed constitutional amendment would be submitted to the people for a vote at either the next statewide general election in November 2026, or earlier if the governor calls a special election.
