Missouri voters will decide this November whether state lawmakers should face a much higher bar before they can change or repeal laws that citizens passed themselves at the ballot box. Amendment 6 would require approval from at least 80% of both the Missouri House and Senate, or a statewide public vote, before the legislature could alter or repeal laws enacted through the initiative process. The measure heads to voters after a fight that reached all the way to the state's highest court.
Supreme Court Reverses Hoskins and a Lower Court
The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously placed Amendment 6 on the Nov. 3 ballot earlier this month, reversing Cole County Judge Daniel Green’s decision that had blocked the measure, according to St. Louis Public Radio. The ruling did not resolve the merits of most of Hoskins’ constitutional arguments, instead treating them as unpreserved and not ripe for pre-election review. Judge Ginger Gooch wrote that Hoskins' certificate rejecting the measure “fails to identify any reason the petition is insufficient under the Missouri Constitution,” per the same outlet's reporting.
The campaign behind the measure, Respect Missouri Voters, says it collected more than 367,000 signatures to put Amendment 6 in front of voters, with more than 330,000 submitted to the secretary of state, according to the Missouri Independent. Hoskins rejected the proposal in August, contending it contained too many subjects, the Independent reported.
What Amendment 6 Would Actually Change
Beyond the 80% legislative threshold, Amendment 6 would also apply to laws that voters rejected through referendum, preventing lawmakers from passing similar legislation without that same supermajority or a public vote. The measure would additionally bar the legislature from weakening the initiative or referendum process itself, and it would make the initiative and referendum petition process a fundamental right. It would also allow courts to revise ballot summaries through lawsuits.
The campaign says the amendment would preserve existing majority-vote and signature requirements for initiative and referendum petitions rather than raising them, according to Respect MO Voters. State and local governmental entities estimated no costs or savings tied to the measure.
Campaign Points to 2024 Sick Leave Repeal
Jack Cardetti, the Yes on 6 spokesperson for Respect Missouri Voters, said the amendment was created after lawmakers changed voter-approved policies, according to KCTV's reporting from reporter Hannah Falcon. He pointed specifically to Missouri lawmakers repealing paid sick leave that voters had approved in 2024. “The ballot initiative process checks politicians and prevents them from ignoring the will of the people,” Cardetti said, adding that politicians have tried to make citizen-led initiatives more difficult.
That 2024 fight over wages and paid sick leave was itself a flashpoint, with Missouri voters approving a measure to raise the minimum wage and require paid sick leave, according to the Missouri Independent's 2024 coverage.
Amendment 6 also carries a direct legislative consequence tied to a measure that already failed this year: according to St. Louis Public Radio, had Amendment 6 already been law, lawmakers would not have been able to propose the recently rejected Amendment 4, which would have required initiative-petition constitutional amendments to pass in all eight of Missouri's congressional districts.
Campaign Frames Amendment as Voter-Power Restoration
Missouri's citizen initiative process has been part of the state Constitution for a century, according to the campaign, a history it has leaned on in framing Amendment 6 as a restoration of voter power rather than a new restriction.
Amendment 6 will not be the only measure on Missouri ballots this November. Voters will also weigh in on questions covering congressional districts, abortion, establishing a public endowment, and the right to elect county sheriffs when they head to the polls on Nov. 3.
