Missouri voters supported a constitutional amendment that creates several barriers for lawmakers seeking to modify or overturn citizen-backed laws and amendments.
Amendment 6 backers celebrated as the measure led with close to 60% of voters in support with 94% of the votes counted late Tuesday night.
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Amendment 6’s passage establishes several new policies aimed at bolstering Missourians’ right to the initiative petition process.
The amendment requires a minimum 80% vote in the Missouri Senate and House to change or repeal a citizen-led and approved statute or constitutional amendment.
Even if that threshold is met, the proposed changes then must go on the ballot for Missourians to decide.
While changes to approved constitutional amendments already needed additional voter approval, the same did not apply to statute changes.
Previously, lawmakers were able to amend or even repeal statute changes proposed and approved through the citizen initiative petition process.
The most recent example was in 2025, when the Republican-led legislature repealed a portion of a proposition that required employers to implement a paid sick leave policy.
Proponents of the amendment said it better protects voter-approved measures. Opponents said it makes it nearly impossible for lawmakers to make possibly needed changes to policies.
Support for Amendment 6 comes nearly three months after Missourians rejected an amendment that would have made it much harder to change the state constitution.
That was Amendment 4, with 80% voting no. It would have required any constitutional amendment brought forward through the citizen initiative process to pass in each of Missouri’s eight congressional districts.
Amendment 6 ensures that future efforts from lawmakers to make it harder to amend voter-backed state laws or constitutional amendments face an extremely uphill battle.
The amendment enshrines the current signature and voter requirements for proposed statute changes and constitutional amendments.
It prohibits the legislature from passing any policy that would weaken citizen initiative or referendum powers.
An example would be passing a law requiring gathered signatures to only be written in blue ink.
Additionally, the amendment contains new requirements regarding ballot summaries for proposed statutes and amendments. It states that ballot summaries, including summary statements and fiscal notes, “shall be clear, unbiased, fair, accurate and easy to understand.”
The outcome Tuesday is likely to be challenged in court.
One section that could be scrutinized is a portion of the amendment that retroactively applies the newer standard of amending policies to any citizen-backed laws or amendments since 2010.
