St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Missouri could start holding public hearings on proposed ballot measures next year under legislation heading to Gov. Jay Nixon for approval.

The state Legislature passed several initiative petition reforms in a bill before the session ended last week. In addition to the creation of public meetings on the proposals, the legislation sets up requirements so Missourians will be able to access information about petitions online, requires petition circulators to disclose whether they are being paid for signatures and by whom, and enhances penalties for petition signature fraud.

Missouri has seen a large jump in the use of citizen petitions in recent years – from 16 submitted to the secretary of state’s office in 2004 to 143 submitted last year.

A battle looms over how much lenders can charge for payday loans in Missouri ”” and it promises to be an expensive one. A coalition of religious groups and civic organizations have begun collecting signatures to get a measure on the state’s 2012 ballot that would limit the cost of short-term loans. Voters would then have the option of capping annual interest rates on those loans ”” which would include payday and car title loans ”” at 36 percent.

Read the story from the St. Louis Post Dispatch

The St. Louis Police Officers’ Association now is supporting a ballot initiative to return control of the police department to the city from the state. The group announced today that it reached a compromise with Mayor Francis Slay and representatives of A Safer Missouri, which is funded by retired investor Rex Sinquefield, to withdraw amendments filed in March that would have placed the question of local control of the St. Louis and Kansas City police departments before voters next year.

Read the story from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to allow a photo ID requirement to vote contains deceptive language and should not appear on the ballot, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by a coalition of groups. The measure, which was approved by the Republican-led legislature in May, is slated to appear on the ballot in November 2012. It would allow lawmakers to establish a law requiring anyone wishing to cast a ballot to provide a government-issued photo ID. It would also allow the establishment of a nine day early-voting period for general elections.

Read the story from St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Approached this weekend by a congenial woman with a clipboard in her hand and puppy pin on her lapel? Meet the Humane Society’s Army of Signature Gatherers. Volunteers for the animal welfare organization were out in force this weekend, collecting signatures for a ballot initiative seeking tougher state regulations on dog breeding facilities, so-called “puppy mills.”

Read the story from the Saint Louis Dispatch

The Missouri Legislature is considering rewriting parts of a voter-approved ballot measure on casinos in order to distribute money generated for public education. The ballot measure, passed by voters last year, created new taxes on casinos but did not provide a proper method to distribute those tax dollars to Missouri schools. Lawmakers have come up with varying proposals on what to do with the money.

Read the story from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch