Missouri Voters Should Have the Opportunity to Improve Clean Missouri

The Missouri Senate recently debated Senate Joint Resolution 38 for more than ten hours on the Senate Floor.  If approved by the Missouri General Assembly, the resolution would go on this November’s ballot and allow voters the opportunity to address some of the issues created by “Clean Missouri”, or Amendment 1.

Clean Missouri passed on the November 2018 ballot, and I believe it was a major deception to Missourians.  It was a constitutional amendment, and in my opinion it shows the problems with our state’s initiative petition system process. A constitutional amendment is a lot like pouring concrete, once it is set, it is there for life. Now, the Legislature is working to address some of the issues created by the new law.

Unlike the initiative petition process, the legislative process is deliberative and thorough. That is why it is so difficult to get new legislation passed!  New laws require public hearings and input, debate, amendments and other safeguards to ensure the entire effort is something that is workable for the state.

Amendment 1 contained many ethics reforms that I do agree with.  The main ones were limits on lobbyist gifts and restrictions on when legislators and staff can become lobbyists, should they want to. They say Jefferson City isn’t the big party that it used to be, and I am glad.

However, I believe voters weren’t told that the effort included a major change to the state’s maps for who represents certain parts of the state, which will have a major impact on rural Missouri.  This is why it is so important to give the voters another chance to consider this matter.

This new effort, known as “Cleaner Missouri,” is one of the most important things that we will work on all year. It would create independent, bipartisan citizen commissions who would draw the new legislative districts. If there was ever any disagreement where a compromise couldn’t be reached, then the courts would come to a solution.  Currently, because of Amendment 1, the new districts would be drawn a newly created state demographer.  Does this sound fair or bipartisan to you?

Another major issue with this new redistricting process is that it makes us draw districts in an attempt to create partisan competitiveness. In what universe does this even exist?  Creating equal partisan splits in Missouri’s legislative districts would require drawing shoestring districts where rural and urban areas are combined.  In other words, Northeast Missouri could very well be represented by people not even from our part of the state.  For instance, our corner of the state could wrap around to St. Joseph and then south into Kansas City. I am truly scared to see how an unelected bureaucrat would draw our districts under this plan.

I believe the language presented in Amendment 1 was intentionally vague, lengthy and deceptive.  What is also worth noting, I believe the campaign for Amendment 1 had millions of dollars contributed from outside of Missouri.  If this was actually a good idea for Missourians, then why were so many people who are not from here interested in it?  This is a critical issue, and I am pleased to see that it was one of the first items we addressed during the legislative session.

Cleaner Missouri will likely be on the ballot this November.  It will completely eliminate lobbyist gifts to elected officials and their staff.  More importantly, it will fix our redistricting system and make sure it is truly bipartisan so Northeast Missouri will always have their own senator, not shared with another part of the state.  I will urge voters to support Cleaner Missouri in November.

As always I appreciate hearing your perspective on this and other issues presented in my weekly column. Please feel free to contact me in Jefferson City at (573) 751-7985. You may also email me at cindy.olaughlin@senate.mo.gov.