Missouri legislators are working to restore provisions of a 2025 law recently struck down by the state Supreme Court.
Currently, if a ballot question is proposed, legislators write the bill summary voters see. If Missourians think it’s unfair, they can sue to have the language changed. If a judge rules in their favor, that judge rewrites the summary.
HB 3146 would change this system by having judges send the summaries to the Secretary of State to be rewritten. The Secretary would get up to three tries to fulfill the judge’s expectation before the judge would rewrite the summary.
The bill is a direct response to SB 22, which was struck down unanimously by the Missouri Supreme Court in January.
That law was deemed unconstitutional because of a provision that gave the Attorney General power to override a judge’s decision.
The new bill looks to avoid that outcome by getting rid of this section. It also doubles the word count allowable for summaries.
Opponents of the bill argue that this process would slow down the approval for ballot initiatives. Rep. Eric Woods (D-Kansas City), who voted no on the bill, argued that letting the Secretary of State rewrite summaries could confuse voters.
“They can choose to make it fair and accurate, or they can choose to make it partisan and confusing and deceitful and as long as I’ve been here, they have chosen the latter,” Woods said. “We wouldn’t need this bill if they would just be honest with people about what they want them to vote on.”
Bill sponsor Rep. John Simmons (R-Washington) disparaged the state's highest court as he argued that changing the current system would allow for a quicker turnaround and prevent judges from intervening in the legislative process.
“[The Supreme Court] needs to stay in their lane,” Simmons said. “They need to stay in the confines of their checks and balances, because we thought that was a good compromise.”
The bill passed the House Elections Committee 10-2. It has yet to be scheduled for floor action.
