Parson supports making it harder to amend the Missouri Constitution

Missouri Governor Mike Parson would like to see the state legislature change the initiative petition process in the upcoming legislative session. 

Parson says initiative petitions now are pushed by special interest groups and funded with out-of-state money. . . 

“I think we want to protect the people’s choice, but I think the reality of it is most things that are going on today are special interests that are using the initiative petition process.” 

Critics say that changing how signatures are gathered or increasing the voter threshold for passage would suppress the voice of the people. 

Parson, a Republican, contends the last true citizen-led initiative petition process was the Hancock Amendment in the ‘80s that limited state government spending.