Citizens in Charge

Yesterday afternoon the Missouri Senate Elections Committee passed Senate Bill 818 out of committee by a vote of 6 to 1, many weeks ahead of where similar legislation was last session.

SB 818 makes two fundamental changes to the state’s petition laws. The most important reform is making the intent of the signer supreme: signatures could not be rejected because of mistakes made by a signature collector or government official or anyone else involved with the petition drive made a mistake. This change ensures that every voter’s voice is heard during a petition drive.

The other important reform is putting a time table on the Secretary of State and other officials to act on providing a title and summary for petitions. Currently time limits are lacking, allowing officials to hold up petitions while the time allotted to collect signatures wears down. This was done on a pair of property rights initiatives earlier this year.

Voting for the bill were:  Sens.  Delbert Scott,  Jane Cunningham, Jim Lembke, David Pearce, Luann Ridgeway, and Joe Keaveny. Voting against the bill was: Sen. Jolie Justus

Absent and not voting were:  Matt Bartle, Jason Crowell, Robin Wright-Jones,

This is the first of several hurdles for this bill.  The next step is for the election committee chair, Sen. Delbert Scott, to report the bill to the whole senate.  Sen. Scott has indicated that he will report the bill to the senate promptly.

Then the floor leader, Sen. Kevin Engler, must allow the bill to be debated by the whole senate.  Please recall that Engler was our obstacle last session.

Please note that Rep. Brian Nieves has a companion bill in the house.  HB2180  A hearing for that bill is not yet scheduled.