Jefferson City, MO
– Members of the 100
th
General Assembly have sponsored at least twenty-two (22) bills/ joint resolutions that deal with suppressing Missouri citizens access to their Constitutionally reserved power to use the Initiative Petition to redress their grievances against their government.
“The initiative process is a power that
We the People
have reserved to ourselves as a check on and to be independent of the General Assembly. Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and some members of the General Assembly want to put road blocks up that would severely hamper if not outright prevent citizen use of that reserved power.”
said Carl Bearden, CEO of United for Missouri.
Similar attacks on the people’s reserved powers have occurred in the past. They usually arise after an issue gets on the ballot and passes which the party in power does not like. It happened in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s under Democrat majorities and is happening once again under Republican majorities. Neither party was or is correct in attacking the power the people have reserved to themselves to exercise a check against the General Assembly.
“With the passage of the Hancock Amendment in the 1980’s, the Democrat majority in the General Assembly passed a bill in 1991 that would have severely crippled the use of the Initiative Petition by citizens. Governor John Ashcroft rightfully vetoed that bill and for very good reasons!” Bearden continued.
Governor Ashcroft vetoed Senate Substitute for House Committee Substitute for House Bills Nos. 268 & 87 on June 27, 1992. He provided several reasons for his veto of the bill that equally apply to those proposals being offered today by members of the Republican majority. Governor Ashcroft makes several key points in his veto message which are just as applicable to today’s proposals:
- The initiative petition is a power the people have reserved to themselves;
- The law would repress citizen involvement and increase costs for collection and litigation;
- The law added burdensome filing requirements that would result in chilling citizen participation; and,
- Any resulting attempts to change a petition after it is filed would result in additional delays.
Governor Ashcroft underscored the principle for protecting the initiative petition process in his veto letter when he said:
“
It is through the initiative process that those who have no influence with elective representatives may take their cause directly to the people. The General Assembly should be reluctant, therefore, to enact legislation which places any impediments on the initiative power which are inconsistent with the reservation found in the Constitution.
”
Bearden said, “The General Assembly may improve the initiative petition process but in so doing, they must not impede the people’s use of their reserved power.
Opinions and positions on issues can change over time. What cannot change is the fundamental principle associated with an issue
.
Governor Ashcroft laid out the principle of protecting and not impeding access to the initiative process by the people in his veto statement
.
That principle remains unchanged today.
”
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