JEFFERSON CITY — State Sen. Eric Burlison, R-Battlefield, is voicing his support for Amendment 3, a ballot measure that will be voted on by Missouri voters next Tuesday, Nov. 3. During this year’s legislative session, the Missouri General Assembly approved Senate Joint Resolution 38, placing Amendment 3 on the ballot.
The proposed constitutional amendment bans lobbyist gifts for legislators and their staff, reduces campaign contribution limits for candidates running for the Missouri Senate and changes the process for redrawing state legislative districts.
“I wholeheartedly support Amendment 3 because I believe it will restore the fair process of drawing legislative districts that was in place before Clean Missouri was passed,” Sen. Burlison said. “Amendment 3 proposes using bipartisan, citizen-led commissions to draw the state’s legislative districts. Prior to the passage of Clean Missouri, this process produced legislative districts that were compact, contiguous and preserved the unique voices of individual communities.”
Commonly referred to as Clean Missouri, Amendment 1, passed in 2018, tasked a state demographer with the job of drawing the state’s legislative districts.
“This state demographer is meant to be nonpartisan, but there were few details included in Clean Missouri about how this individual would be selected and what qualifications would be required for the position,” Sen Burlison said. “This way of drawing legislative district lines has never been utilized in Missouri before, and I am concerned Clean Missouri’s focus would lead to legislative districts that snake in and out of large urban centers, through the suburbs and into rural Missouri. This could result in voters having representation by elected officials far from their neighborhoods and community. I support Amendment 3 because I believe it will deliver stronger ethics laws and, most importantly, establish a redistricting process that ensures legislative districts are compact, contiguous and follow commonsense boundaries like city limits, county lines, major roads and natural features.”
For more information on Sen. Burlison and his work in the Missouri Senate, please visit his official Senate webpage at senate.mo.gov/burlison for more information.