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Gov. Nixon sets 5 proposed constitutional amendments for August primary ballot

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Governor Jay Nixon (D) has set August 5 as the date for several proposed changes to Missouri’s Constitution, including the three-fourths of one cent sales tax to support transportation that was adopted by the legislature this year. Three other proposed amendments will appear on the November 4 ballot.

The issues Nixon has put on the August 5 ballot are:

  • House Joint Resolution No. 11, passed by the General Assembly in 2013, proposes amending the Missouri Constitution to include language forever guaranteeing the right of farmers and ranchers to engage in agricultural production and ranching practices.
  • House Joint Resolution No. 48, passed by the General Assembly in 2014, proposes amending the Missouri Constitution to direct the state lottery commission to develop and begin selling a ‘Veterans Lottery Ticket’, from which all net proceeds would be deposited into the Missouri Veterans’ Commission’s capital improvement trust fund.
  • House Joint Resolution No. 68, passed by the General Assembly in 2014, proposes amending the Missouri Constitution to enact an additional sales tax to fund infrastructure projects including highways and roads.
  • Senate Joint Resolution No. 27, passed by the General Assembly in 2014, proposes amending the Missouri Constitution to include language stating that people shall be secure in their electronic communications and data from unreasonable searches and seizures as they are now likewise secure in their persons, homes, papers and effects.
  • Senate Joint Resolution No. 36, passed by the General Assembly in 2014, proposes amending the Missouri Constitution to include a declaration that the right to keep and bear arms is an unalienable right and that the state government is obligated to uphold that right.

That leaves on the November 4 ballot:

  • House Joint Resolution No. 16, passed by the General Assembly in 2013, proposes amending the Missouri Constitution to allow relevant evidence of prior criminal acts to be admissible in prosecutions for crimes of a sexual nature involving a victim under eighteen years of age.
  • House Joint Resolution No. 72, passed by the General Assembly in 2014, proposes amending the Missouri Constitution to include language relating to a governor’s fiscal management authority.
  • House Joint Resolution No. 90, passed by the General Assembly in 2014, proposes amending the Missouri Constitution to permit voting in person or by mail for a period of six business days prior to and including the Wednesday before the Election Day in all general elections.

Two other issues are still pending certification for the November ballot.

 See the release from Nixon’s office

Right to farm amendment goes to the people (AUDIO)

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Missourians will have a chance to decide if farmers should have a constitutional right to do what they’re doing.    The legislature has sent them the so-called “Right to Farm” amendment.   

Representative Bill Reiboldt (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Bill Reiboldt has carried a right to farm proposal for three years in the House. (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The movement to create the amendment was triggered by the “Puppy Mill” petition campaign putting limits on pet breeders.  Voters approved the puppy breeding law but the legislature immediately changed it, saying it needed to be more practical.   Regulation of pet breeders is handled by the state agriculture department.                                             

The original proposals would have prohibited petition efforts such as Proposition B creating agricultural laws, but that idea has been removed.  St. Louis Senator Scott Sifton thinks that’s the most important change made in the three years of work on the bill.

“What’s most important to me is…that the power of the people to check the legislature on that subject matter and any other agriculture subject matter is not something I do not  want to see taken away from them,” he says.

The proposal also retains the right of local governments to pass ordinances on zoning, health, and environmental issues., The original proposal would have eliminated that local government authority.

Early versions of the proposal also dealt with the abilities of local governments to pass ordinances and laws restricting farming. The legislature finally agreed on a compromise that says the amendment would not interfere with rights afforded local governments elsewhere in the Constitution.

Desloge Representative Linda Black says what is going to voters deals more directly with the right to farm.

“We had kind of gotten bogged down in the House on petition issues, trying to put protective language in that resolution … I think that the compromise that was struck leaves out any language for petitions but it does kind of soften the ability for local municipalities and counties to implement ordinances that enforce any kind of laws that have to do with livestock or agriculture.”

Black says the proposal will also extend protection to urban farming.

The Missouri Farm Bureau is one of the groups that has pushed for a right to farm amendment. President Blake Hurst says his group was comfortable with the language dealing with local control issues being removed, but they still want the state’s initiative petition process to be addressed.

AUDIO: Senate Debate 31:04

Lawmakers: ‘Right to farm’ proposal not likely to pass

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House and Senate lawmakers have met to debate what language should go in Missouri’s Constitution to guarantee a right to farm, but some say the issue is not likely to pass this session.

The Senate version of the proposal includes language to protect the power of political subdivisions to regulate farming, such as through a county health ordinance. The conference committee voted to omit that.

Rep. Jason Smith (R-Salem) says that language would create two constitutional rights.

“The right to farm and also the right of political subdivisions to conflict with the Constitution,” he says, “and I think that’s a big problem.”

Rep. Linda Black (D-Desloge) says leaving that language in would create a greater threat to farming.

“Then they could do a more narrowly defined effort on a local level, because if you have a drive in each county to put something on a local ballot you could actually kill the right to farm on an individual county-by-county basis … and we see that there may be an effort out there to do that.”

Sen. Jolie Justus (D-Kansas City) says without that language in there, several members of her caucus have said they will vote to kill the bill. She and Black agree the issue is likely dead for the session.

Justus says the real way to prevent future challenges to farming is to change the initiative petition process, something she hopes can be accomplished next year.

“We need to strike a balance between citizens being able to petition their government and also realizing that right now the system is set up so that wealthy individuals and organizations can put things on the ballot very easily in this state,” Justus says. “It’s an end run around the legislature and I don’t think it’s what direct democracy should be about.”

The proposals are HJRs 11 and 7.

House sends farming rights amendment to the Senate

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A ballot issue meant to protect the rights of Missourians to farm is one step closer to reach voters. A proposed constitutional amendment has been passed out of the House that would put a so-called “right to farm” issue on the November, 2014 ballot.

Speaker Pro-Tem Jason Smith (R-Salem) and Representative Bill Riebolds (R-Neosho) sponsored HJRs 11 & 7. (photos courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Speaker Pro-Tem Jason Smith (R-Salem) and Representative Bill Rieboldt (R-Neosho) sponsored HJRs 11 & 7. (photos courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Casey Guernsey (R-Bethany) says the proposal is a chance for Missourians to stand against animal rights groups like the Humane Society of the United States.

“It seems unconscionable to me that such an attack would be successful in a nation that owes its greatness to these very agrarian principles that are now under siege … a nation whose founding fathers were farmers, and they were livestock owners, and who believed farms were the building blocks of this nation.”

One of the sponsors of the proposal, Speaker Pro-Tem Jason Smith (R-Salem) says groups like HSUS are made stronger by a population that is largely generations removed from farming. He cites an example given by former legislator Tom Loehner.

“He testified about talking to an urban legislator that was talking about where the meat in the grocery store came from. That urban legislator thought that the meat came from when a cow shedded its weight. He did not realize that cows actually are slaughtered, and that’s where the steaks and the hamburgers came from.”

Republican leadership moved to cut off debate on Thursday before any Democrats could speak on the proposal. On Wednesday, several Democrats spoke against the measure.

Representative Chris Kelly (D-Columbia) said it would undo the work of the legislature in 2011 to compromise on legislation regulating puppy breeding operations in the state.

“We settled the dog issue. We compromised on it, we worked it out. Now, included in this laudable constitutional amendment is a backdoor repeal of the protection on the breeders … we’re going right back to puppyland.”

Guernsey said the legislation was not about repealing the dog breeding compromise.  The measure passed on a bipartisan 110-41 vote.

The proposal now goes to the Senate.