roe overturned! Missouri is in charge.
Woohoo!!
How many of you celebrated when this news was handed down from SCOTUS? Missouri now gets to be in control of the way we handle abortion for ourselves. Yay! We conservatives love local control. Big win for us!
In this deeply red state, that shouldn't be a problem for pro-lifers, should it? You wouldn't think so. But I think it is.
the problem is the way we change our state constitution
If you voted in the November 2022 election, you know that Amendment 3 passed. It legalized recreational marijuana and a host of things related to that issue. It's passing didn't just add statute to our code book. It changed the Missouri Constitution.
In this deeply red, "conservative" state how did that happen? A simple majority, that's how.
The simple majority of voters (50% + 1 vote) rules when it comes to our constitution. In Missouri, that means that K.C. and St. Louis rule while rural Missouri's votes really don't even matter.
Here's a county map of the vote on Amendment 3. It's easy to see that only a small handful of counties were in agreement with recreational marijuana. But it passed.
abortion is next. without question. and they know it.
What happens when abortion is on the ballot in the '24 election? The exact. same. thing.
And your lawmakers - all of them - know it.
how do we change the root of the problem?
It's called Concurrent Majority Ratification (CMR).
CMR would give representation to the rural minority when we want to make changes to the Missouri Constitution.
My preference is that we would base our representation on the smallest voting districts possible, our Missouri House Districts.
Senator Jill Carter filed SJR 28 which would do this. The language in this bill says that two things must happen for our Missouri Constitution to be changed.
- A simple majority of the popular (individual) votes on the ballot measure.
- A simple majority of Missouri House Districts vote in favor.
If this was the case, Amendment 3 would not have passed because although there was a simple majority of popular votes, there was nowhere near a simple majority of House districts in favor.
the speaker of the house, dean plocher
Rep Dean Plocher is the current Speaker of the House & he's running for Lt. Governor in 2024. He doesn't want CMR.
The word on the street here is that he's going to hold up other legislation until his preferred bill is passed which is Rep Henderson's HJR 43. The problem with that is that what he wants isn't fair to rural Missourians, either!
And it likely won't stop abortion from becoming a constitutional right in '24.
HJR 43 is sponsored by Rep Henderson and is moving quickly through the General Assembly. It would also change the way we amend our state constitution, but it's not a good option and here's why.
HJR 43 only raises the threshold from 50% + 1 to 60% popular vote in favor for passage.
Example #1:
Abortion is on the ballot via Initiative Petition.
When the polls close, there is a 60% of popular (individual) vote in favor.
The result is abortion becomes a constitutional right, EVEN IF all 60% of those voters are in concentrated in St Louis & KC.
Example #2:
Rural Missouri wants to pass a ballot measure relating to farming freedom and got it added via Initiative Petition.
When the polls close, the cities easily "veto'd" the measure with only 40% voting no.
There is NO WAY rural Missourians would ever pass any amendment because the cities would EASILY vote it down.
If HJR 43 passes as it is currently written, you can assume that it is very likely you'll see legalized abortion as a constitutional right in Missouri in November '24. The liberals will come out of the woodwork to vote and will use whatever means necessary to register anyone walking. Make no mistake - they are prepared.
AND.... only a few voting precincts would be in control. How does that make you feel? And of course, they are the ones that have the most potential for fraud. So there ya go.
Guess what? PLOCHER KNOWS IT. They all know it.
You think Dean Plocher is really pro life? If he is, then he should be acting like it in regard to this issue.
You think Dean Plocher is pro farmer? Because the farmers in rural Missouri are being silenced.
You think Dean Plocher is conservative? Because the conservatives in Missouri are not being heard. HJR 43 is a bill that suppresses the voice of the most conservative voters in Missouri.
Plocher holding everything hostage to pass the 60% bill?
That's what I hear.
It's not just about abortion. It's about rural missouri having a voice.
This is the difference between a simple democracy and a democratic republic. In a republic - the minority still has a voice. Until we have concurrent majority ratification, that is not happening in regard to the changing of our constitution.
"Ruling the roost" is being done by our urban areas and the heart of Missouri is being ignored.
I'll also add that although population density is greatest in the cities, it's agriculture that is the heartbeat and economic foundation of Missouri. It's so ironic that our voices in rural Missouri don't matter in this current culture of "diversity & equity".
TAKE aCTION. there's a lot you can do!
1. Call Senator Caleb Rowden and ask for SJR 28 to be called up out of committee. It was voted "Do Pass" but he refuses to call it up so it can be debated and perfected. Wonder why...(insert eye roll).. he's going to make Dean happy & give him HJR 43 so he can get what he wants.
Call Caleb - 573.751.3931 Email Caleb - caleb.rowden@senate.mo.gov
2. Call Senator Sandy Crawford. She's handling HJR 43 in the Senate. Please respectfully let her know you want to see CONCURRENT MAJORITY RATIFICATION language using HOUSE DISTRICTS. I *think* she might be open to making changes. Let's pray she is.
Call Senator Crawford - 573.751.8793. Email Senator Crawford - sandy.crawfod@senate.mo.gov
3. Call & email your own Senator & Representative and express your concerns and ask them for support of Concurrent Majority Ratification if they have the opportunity. HJR 43 has already passed the House but they might have another opportunity to vote. Find them here: Legislator Lookup Tool
3. Sign the petition. It's super easy! Scroll down to to Initiative Petition (IP) Reform & click, fill it out & submit.
4. Reach out to EVERY conservative Missourian you know & share this blog!
5. Think about businesses and organizations that might be represented in your area & share this blog. Ask for their support - especially those supporting farmers or rural life. Think...Farm Bureau, Mo Cattlemen's Association, Mo Soybean Assoc, Corn Growers, electric co-ops, local Chamber of Commerce offices, local banks, ag industry, etc.
6. Reach out to ALL the PRO LIFE organizations, churches, citizens you know! Send them this blog & ask them to participate in helping. If they need more information, please have them contact me. I'll help them.
join me on zoom!
The Missouri Freedom Forum is held on Zoom every SUNDAY night from 8:00 - 9:00pm
We host different guests each week and discuss a couple of hot topics related to current issues in Missouri legislation. And we always leave time for Q&A.
Tonight's guests are:
- Senator Jill Carter
- Ron Calzone, Director of Missouri First
- Bev Ehlen, veteran Missouri activist
Tonight's Topics:
- Initiative Petition Reform & Concurrent Majority Ratification
- These issues address the way we amend the Missouri Constitution, such as how Amendment 3 passed in November allowing marijuana to be legal for recreational purposes.
- The Week Ahead
- The Safe Act - Banning hormones, puberty blockers & gender surgery for kids
- Education - Local control schools & open enrollment
Please join us tonight & invite other Missouri patriot friends!
Meeting ID: 985 7944 0085
Password: freedom
Phone In: US: 646 876 9923 or 669 900 6833
Apologies for my late publication of my focus for the week. I'm blaming the Super Bowl. I hope you were celebrating the BIG WIN, as well and enjoying the break for the crazy world of Missouri politics for a few hours.
YAY for the WIN... now back to reality.
monday, feb 13th
mo senate hearings
1:00 pm in Senate Committee Room 2
There are several bills being heard on the topic of Initiative Petitions and constitutional amendments.
I'm most familiar with Senator Carter's SJR 28 which includes language that would require a concurrent majority in order to pass amendments to the Missouri Constitution. This means when we have a ballot measure and there is a potential change to the MO Constitution a majority of MO House districts would be required to vote in favor of an amendment IN ADDITION to having the majority of the popular vote. The result of concurrent majority requirement is that the rural areas of Missouri would be represented vs the urban areas alone determining the changes to our constitution.
This issue is VERY important. We expect there will be an abortion related amendment on the ballot in 2024. We want ALL Missourians' voiced to count.
There may be other good bills being presented in the hearing as well. I'll do my best to share what I learn.
CALL TO ACTION
Request a YES vote from the committee members.
Senator Elaine Gannon, Chair - 573.751.4008
Senator Sandy Crawford, Vice Chair - 573.751.8793
Senator Jill Carter - 573.751.2173
Senator Mary Elizabeth Coleman - 573.751.1492
Senator Andrew Koenig - 573.751.5568
Senator John Rizzo - 573.751.3074
Senator Barbara Washington - 573.751.3158
Email Addresses (copy & paste):
elaine.gannon@senate.mo.gov, sandy.crawford@senate.mo.gov, jill.carter@senate.mo.gov, andrew.koenig@senate.mo.gov, john.rizzo@senat.mo.gov, barbara.washington@senate.mo.gov
THIRD READ & PASS
Subject: Parent's Rights & Transparency
My Opinion: NO. Read the blog for more details.
This bill is perfected and will come before the body of the senate for a yes/no vote.
CALL TO ACTION:
1. Call & email your Senator and let them know what your concerns are with this bill. Ask for a no vote. Senator Eigel has a better option! Nothing at all is better than this. Legislator Lookup Tool
2. Copy the link to this post & send it to a conservative friend!
SENATE BILLS FOR PERFECTION
Subject: Medicaid Expansion. Covers care for 12 months after pregnancy.
My Opinion: Yes IF they amend the bill to prohibit funds for post-abortion care.
CALL TO ACTION:
1. Call & email your Senator and let them know what your concerns are with this bill. Ask for language that would prohibit post abortion care. Legislator Lookup Tool
2. Copy the link to this post & send it to a conservative friend!
tuesday, february 14
hearings
8:15 in the Senate Lounge
Subject: Modifies provisions relating to workforce development in ELEMENTARY and secondary schools.
My Opinion: NO. You very well may disagree with my position. I DO believe our kids need to be proactive and have a plan for their futures. It's smart. It's wise. As a mom, I help my kids think through their options after high school. That said, although I do believe it's wise, I do NOT believe it should be mandated by the State government. My 14 year old 8th grader does NOT need to be worried about choosing a career or where he's going to college. He needs to learn to love learning. He needs to learn to love exploring and experiencing new things. He needs to be a kid. I even believe that's true of my 12th grader. Wise? Absolutely. But mandated? NO. NO. NO.
CALL TO ACTION:
Contact committee members to express your views. I'll be asking for a NO vote.
Andrew Koenig, Chair 573.751.5568
Rick Brattin, Vice-Chair. 573.751.2108
Lauren Arthur. 573.751.5282
Doug Beck. 573.751.0220
Elaine Gannon. 573.751.4008
Denny Hoskins. 573.751.4302
Greg Razer. 573.751.6607
Nick Schroer. 573.751.1282
Curtis Trent. 573.751.1503
Education Committee Emails (Copy & Paste): andrew.koenig@senate.mo.gov, rick.brattin@senate.mo.gov, lauren.arthur@senate.mo.gov, doug.beck@senate.mo.gov, elaine.gannon@senate.mo.gov, denny.hoskins@senate.mo.gov, greg.razer@senate.mo.gov, nick.schroer@senate.mo.gov, curtis.trent@senate.mo.gov
10:00 am in Senate Committee Room 1
SB 49- Senator Mike Moon
SB 164 - Senator Jill Carter
SB 236 - Senator Denny Hoskins
SUBJECT: These 3 bills ban puberty blockers and gender transition surgery for children under the age of 18.
MY OPINION: YES!
All three of these bills are great. They are written to protect our kids from the abuse of the left wing agenda that is targeting kids.
CALL TO ACTION:
1. Pray!! Last week, a whistleblower released the truth about the gender clinic that has been operating at St Louis Children's Hospital in partnership with Washington University. It has gotten the attention of our Attorney General and even national news outlets. I suspect the response to Tuesday's committee hearing will be larger than anything we've seen with the trans hearings thus far. Please pray for calm, safety and for God's will to be done. Pray for Senators Moon, Carter & Hoskins...for
their safety and their peace of mind as well as success.
2. Contact committee members. Request a YES vote.
Senator Justin Brown, Chair. 573.751.5713
Senator Mike Moon. 573.751.1480
Senator Elaine Gannon. 573.751.4008
Senator Nick Schroer. 573.751.1282
Senator Andrew Koenig. 573.751.5568
Senator Tracy McCreery. 573.751.9762
Senator Greg Razer. 573.751.6607
Email Addresses (Copy & paste):
justin.brown@senate.mo.gov, elaine.gannon@senate.mo.gov, mike.moon@senate.mo.gov, nick.schroer@senate.mo.gov, andrew.koenig@senate.mo.gov, tracey.mccreery@senate.mo.gov, greg.razer@senate.mo.gov
amending the constitution needs to be more fair to rural missourians
Why?
Well…. Did YOU want the marijuana amendment to pass?
Chances are, if you live in any county outside of a metropolitan area, you did not. The map below, which is provided by Missouri First, shows exactly which Missouri counties were in favor of Amendment 3 which was on our November 2022 ballot. As you can see, only 16 voting districts approved.
So often, this is the case. The general population of the cities is enough to out vote the rural areas. You likely already know the big problem with this.
The cities are vastly different than the majority of Missouri. Those of us who live in the beautiful Missouri farmland or near our gorgeous cold, spring-fed rivers in the southern Missouri hills do NOT want to share the way of life of our city dwelling friends. Generally speeking, our needs are different and our values are different.
When it comes to changing our Missouri Constitution, the needs and voices of rural Missourians aren't being taken into account. The Concurrent Majority Ratification legislation will help us fix that.
vocabulary to understand
Initiative Petition (IP)
This is the process by which citizens are able to add measures onto our ballots on election day. The process is overseen by the Secretary of State and involves collecting hundreds of thousands of signatures to request the additional measure to the ballot. It’s a very expensive process and it’s not easy to accomplish. And that’s a good thing. We don’t need it to be easy BUT we also don’t want to completely remove the people's ability to make a change when necessary.
IP Reform
If you hear of IP Reform, it is referring to an effort to change the process of citizens being able to add an amendment to the ballot. Those who feel the Constitution is irrelevant these days would love for it to be easier. People who don’t want any changes to the Constitution would prefer it be much harder or near impossible for the people to be able to accomplish the passage of a constitutional amendment.
Citizens do need a way to change things if their elected officials aren’t representing the constituents well. It doesn’t need to be impossible but it does need to be very challenging and that is the case as it stands. If I were to update the IP process, I’d choose to make it even a little more difficult to do but I don’t believe this is the answer to our concerns.
There are a lot of initiative petitions that are filed each year and only a very few make it to the ballot. In 2022, there were 89 IP filings and only 50 were approved for circulation to collect signatures. Of those, only 1 actually made it onto the 2022 ballot and that was the the marijuana amendment. The other ballot measures arrived on the ballot via joint resolutions passed by legislature.
Concurrent Majority Ratification (CMR)
According to Webster, the definition of concurrent majority is, “a political majority created out of divergent interest groups and temporarily united by general agreement especially in protecting a minority right”
In this case, the divergent interest groups are the rural areas. Rural Missourians have a different interest than residents of our biggest cities. We need to protect rural Missourians' interests.
Specifically, we will be looking at the Missouri House Districts to do that because they are the smallest political subdivisions of Missouri voters.
Ratification is the official consent to the changing of the constitution.
Concurrent Majority Ratification means that it would take the popular vote AND the majority of House districts approval in order to officially change the Missouri Constitution.
Popular Vote
The results of individual votes cast.
the american standard
The standard for creating public policy in America IS by way of concurrent majority.
- States vote to ratify amendments to the US Constitution. We don't change it by a national popular vote.
- The Electoral College. We don't elect the President by a national popular vote.
- We have 2 US Senators per state, regardless of population size.
- Members of the House of Representatives (both MO & US) represent geographic districts
- Our legislature consists of 2 chambers - House & Senate. Passing legislation requires a concurrent majority
In truth, amending the Missouri Constitution by way of a statewide popular vote is the exception not the rule. It causes a problem in that the cities of Missouri are able to control any ballot initiative and our rural citizens are disenfranchised. It needs to change.
current legislation to support
Each of these are Joint Resolutions. If passed by the legislature, they will not be added to statute. They become ballot measures brought before the people for a vote.
SJR 28 by Senator Jill Carter
SJR 33 by Senator Mike Moon
HJR 30 by Representative Ed Lewis
The key point in each of these three pieces of legislation is that in order to amend the Missouri Constitution, it would require more than 50% of the popular vote AND more than 50% of the vote in each Missouri House District.
If this had been the statute prior to our November 2022 election, the marijuana amendment would NOT have passed because although the popular vote was more than 50%, there were not nearly enough Missouri House districts that approved.
take action
- Call and email your Representative &. Senator regarding this issue. Keep it respectful, short & sweet. Tell them you support the CONCURRENT MAJORITY RATIFICATION language in SJR 28, SJR 33 and HJR 30 and you are requesting they support these at any opportunity available to them.
- Watch for committee hearings and participate by attending or submitting testimony as often as possible. I'll keep you updated as to when & where those are happening. The first House hearing is Tuesday, 1/24 at Noon in House Hearing Room 6.
- Call and email committee members individually to express your support prior to any hearings.
- Share this information with your friends and family. If this legislation passes, it will then be added to the ballot and we need educated voters.
tools to help you take action
Don't know your legislators or their contact info? Legislator Lookup Tool
Legislator email addresses follow the following templates.
Senators - firstname.lastname@senate.mo.gov
Representatives - firstname.lastname@house.mo.gov
Committee members
Peggy McGaugh, Chair (R) 573.751.2917
Dan Stacy, Vice Chair (R) 573.751.8636
Joe Adams, Ranking Minority Leader (D). 573.751.4265
Brad Banderman (R). 573.751.0549
Donna Baringer (D). 573.751.4220
Tricia Byrnes (R). 573.751.1460
Jeff Coleman (R). 573.751.1487
Bill Falkner (R). 573.751.9755
Roger Reedy (R). 573.751.3971
Alex Riley (R) 573.751.2210
Adam Schwadron (R). 573.751.2949
David Tyson Smith (D). 573.751.9753
Justin Sparks (R). 573.751.0562
Cheri Toalson Reisch (R). 573.751.1169
Ken Waller (R) 573.751.4451
Kevin Windham (D). 573.751.4726
Eric Woods (D). 573.751.2199
Elaine Gannon, Chair (R). 573.751.4008
Sandy Crawford, Vice Chair (R). 573.751.8793
Jill Carter (R). 573.751.2173
Mary Elizabeth Coleman (R). 573.751.1492
Andrew Koenig (R). 573.751.5568
John Rizzo (D). 573.751.3074
Barbara Washington (D). 573.751.3158
upcoming hearings
House Committee Hearing
Tuesday, January 24, 2023 @ 12:00 Noon in House Hearing Room 6
Submit Written Testimony - Support HJR 30. Be sure to check your email and click to verify your submission.
