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SECOND REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE JOINT
RESOLUTION NO. 135
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBL Y
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENT A TIVE MURRA Y .
5150H.01I JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk
JOINT RESOLUTION
Submitting to the qualified voters of Missouri an amendment to Article III of the Constitution
of Missouri, by adopting four new sections relating to measures proposed by the
people.
Be it r esolved by the House of Repr esentatives, the Senate concurring ther ein:
That at the next general election to be held in the state of Missouri, on T uesday next
2 following the first Monday in November , 2026, or at a special election to be called by the
3 governor for that purpose, there is hereby submitted to the qualified voters of this state, for
4 adoption or rejection, the following amendment to Article III of the Constitution of the state
5 of Missouri:
Section A. Article III, Constitution of Missouri, is amended by adopting four new
2 sections, to be known as Sections 54, 55, 56, and 57, to read as follows:
Section 54. Ballot summaries, including summary statements and fiscal note
2 summaries, shall be clear , unbiased, fair , accurate, and easy to understand. Ballot
3 summaries shall not seek to mislead voters. No curre nt or futur e law passed by the
4 legislatur e shall pr event the circui t court or appellate courts, including the suprem e
5 court, fr om immediately adjudicating and r ewriting ballot summaries in whole or in
6 part.
Section 55. 1. The legislature shall be proh ibited fro m weakening citizens'
2 initiative or re feren dum powers; no law passed by the legislatur e and no legislatively
3 r eferr ed law or constitutional amendment shall weaken citizens' initiative or
EXPLANA TION — Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in the above bill is not enacted and is
intended to be omitted from the law . Matter in bold-face type in the above bill is proposed language.
4 r efer endum powers, notwithstanding Article XII, Sections 2(a) and 2(b) of this
5 Constitution, Article III, Section 1 of this Constitution, and any other pr ovision or law
6 or of this Constitution to the contrary . The phrase "weaken citizens' initiative or
7 r efer endum powers" shall be construed br oadly including, but not limited to, raising
8 signatur e thr esholds, shortening the time allowed for signatur e collection, narr owing
9 allowable subject matter , imposing additional requ irem ents on petitioners, prev enting
10 or delaying judicial rev ision of misleading ballot titles, pro hibiting or nullifying
11 severability clauses in initiated measur es, ren dering a simple statewide majority of votes
12 cast on the measur e insufficient to enact a law or constitutional amendment prop osed by
13 citizen initiative, or otherwise impeding or res tricting citizens' powers of initiative or
14 r efer endum. Any law or constitutional amendment that weakens citizens' direc t
15 lawmaking power , which is or has been prop osed by the legislatur e after January 1,
16 2025, is her eby proh ibited.
17 2. The rights of initiative and ref erend um as set forth in this Constitution are
18 fundamental rights. Any regi stered voter or the state of Missouri has a right to pr opose
19 laws and constitutional amendments by initiative petition and to prop ose the rejection of
20 acts by the legislatur e by ref erend um petition, to sign such petitions, to cir culate such
21 petitions, and to vote on such petitions; however , no person shall qualify as a petition
22 cir culator who has been convicted of, found guilty of, or pled guilty to an offense
23 involving forgery under the laws of this state or an offense under the law of any other
24 jurisdiction if that offense would be consider ed forgery under the laws of this state.
25 3. Except as specifically set forth in this Constitution, any law affecting
26 governmental regu lation of or governmental action taken pertaining to, the
2 7 fundamental rights of initiative and ref eren dum as set forth in this Constitution is
28 subject to strict scrutiny and shall be narr owly tailore d to achieve a compelling
29 governmental interes t.
Section 56. 1. For the purposes of this section, the following terms mean:
2 (1) "Changing a citizen-initiated law" or "changing a citizen-initiated
3 amendment", passing, pr oposing, or re ferring a law or constitutional amendment
4 which, if enacted, would modify , re peal, supersede, or undermine any part of a citizen-
5 initiated law or citizen-initiated amendment, whether explicitly or by implication;
6 (2) "Citizen-initiated amendment", any section or article of this Constitution, or
7 any portion ther eof, that the people have pro posed and enacted by the initiative as a
8 constitutional amendment;
9 (3) "Citizen-initiated law", a law that the people have prop osed and enacted by
10 the initiative;
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11 (4) "Refer endum petition vetoes", laws passed by the legislatur e that are
12 r ejected by the citizens by r eferendum petition;
13 (5) "Rejected by refer endum petition", a law which has been passed by the
14 legislatur e and subsequently rej ected by the people by way of a ref erend um order ed by
15 petition.
16 2. Beginning December 3, 2026, the legislatur e shall be pr ohibited fr om changing
17 any citizen-initiated law , changing any citizen-initiated amendment, or passing,
18 pr oposing, or ref erring any law or constitutional amendment similar in effect to a
19 law reject ed by ref erend um petition, unless eighty percent of the house of
2 0 r epresent atives and senate ref er the change to a vote of the people, notwithstanding
21 any provi sion of law or of this Constitution to the contrary .
22 3. The pr ohibitions of this section shall be construed to pr otect laws and
23 constitutional pr ovisions enacted by citizen initiative after January 1, 2010, including
24 both those enacted before and after the effective date of this section, and to pr otect
25 r efer endum petition vetoes after January 1, 2010, including both those befor e and after
26 the effective date of this section, fr om an action by the legislatur e on or after the
27 effective date of this section.
28 4. This section shall not be construed to deprive any member of the legislatur e of
29 the right to introd uce any bill or measur e, but passage, pro posal, or ref erral ther eof by
30 the legislature is subject to the pr ohibitions and requi rem ents of this section.
Section 57. Notwithstanding any other pr ovision or law or of this Constitution to
2 the contrary , preex isting signatur e and vote r equir ements shall be maintained, as
3 follows: a simple statewide majority of votes cast on the measur e by individual legal
4 voters shall be sufficient to enact any law or constitutional amendment pr oposed by
5 initiative petition; a simple statewide majority of votes cast on the measur e by individual
6 legal voters shall be sufficient to re ject any law upon which a r efer endum is ordered by
7 r efer endum petition; signatures fro m five per cent of individual legal voters in each of
8 two-thirds of Missouri's congre ssional districts shall be sufficient to pr opose a law;
9 signatur es fr om eight per cent of the individual legal voters in each of two-thirds of
10 Missouri's congr essional districts shall be sufficient to pr opose a constitutional
11 amendment; signatures fr om five per cent of the individual legal voters in each of
12 two-thirds of Missouri's congr essional districts shall be sufficient to order a
1 3 r efer endum; and the number of signatures r equir ed shall be calculated based on the
14 total vote for governor at the general election last pr eceding the filing of any petition.
15 Notwithstanding any other provi sion of law or of this Constitution to the contrary , any
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16 law or constitutional amendment r eferr ed to voters by petition shall be decided when
17 appr oved or r ejected by a majority of the votes cast ther eon, and not otherwise.
✔
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