Amendment 6 asks voters whether laws and constitutional amendments passed by citizen petition should be shielded from the legislature. If it passes, lawmakers could change or repeal a voter-approved measure only if 80% of both the House and the Senate voted to send the change back to a statewide vote.
Today the legislature can amend or repeal a statute passed by initiative with an ordinary majority and the governor’s signature, as it did in 2025 when it repealed the paid sick leave requirement voters approved in 2024. Changing a voter-approved constitutional amendment already takes a statewide vote, but lawmakers can place that vote on the ballot by simple majority.
Under Amendment 6, both routes would need 80% of each chamber. With the current House of 163 members and Senate of 34, that is 131 representatives and 28 senators. The protection reaches back: the measure’s text applies it to every law and amendment enacted by citizen initiative after Jan. 1, 2010. The same 80% rule would apply to any bill “similar in effect” to a law voters threw out by referendum.
The amendment does more than set the 80% bar. It would declare initiative and referendum to be fundamental rights, which subjects any law regulating the process to strict scrutiny, the toughest standard courts use. It would bar the legislature from weakening the process, and it lists examples: raising signature thresholds, shortening signature-gathering time, narrowing allowable subjects, or requiring more than a simple statewide majority to pass. Any such change the legislature proposed after Jan. 1, 2025 would be void. It would also write into the constitution that courts may rewrite misleading ballot summaries, and that no law may stop them.
It leaves current requirements alone. Initiative statutes would still need signatures from 5% of voters in six of the eight congressional districts, constitutional amendments 8%, and a simple statewide majority would still pass either one.
Respect Missouri Voters gathered the signatures. Secretary of State Denny Hoskins declared the petition insufficient on Aug. 4, arguing it covered more than one subject. The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously reversed him on Sept. 3 and ordered it onto the ballot. In August, Macon County voters rejected Amendment 4, the legislature’s proposal to require citizen-initiated amendments to carry every congressional district, 65% to 35%; under Amendment 6, a proposal like that could not be put on the ballot at all.
Supporters say the initiative is a check on a legislature that has repeatedly rewritten what voters passed, including the sick leave and minimum wage measure. They say the 80% bar still lets lawmakers fix a measure when there is broad, bipartisan agreement, and that voters get the final word.
Opponents, including Hoskins, Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, Missouri Right to Life, and the Missouri Republican Party, say the measure takes too much power from elected representatives and makes 16 years of ballot measures nearly impossible to revisit. Hoskins has said it would cripple the legislature’s ability to pass laws on crime and taxes. Critics also note that “similar in effect” is undefined, which leaves courts to decide what it covers.
Amendment 6 also bears on Proposition A. If voters reject the 2025 congressional map and approve Amendment 6, lawmakers likely would need 80% of each chamber to pass a similar map before the 2030 census, according to a University of Missouri-Kansas City law professor quoted by the Missouri Independent.
ON THE BALLOT
Official ballot title:
Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:
- expand the initiative and referendum petition process by making it a fundamental right;
- allow courts to revise ballot summaries through lawsuits;
- prohibit the legislature from weakening initiative or referendum powers;
- prohibit the legislature from changing or repealing laws enacted through the initiative process, or passing laws similar to those rejected by referendum, without approval from at least 80% of both chambers; and
- preserve existing majority vote and signature requirements for initiative and referendum petitions?
A YES VOTE requires 80% of both chambers, plus a statewide vote, to change any initiative-passed law or amendment since 2010; bars the legislature from weakening the initiative process; makes initiative and referendum fundamental rights; and keeps current signature and majority requirements.
A NO VOTE keeps current rules, under which the legislature can amend initiative-passed statutes by ordinary majority.
COST: State and local governments estimate no costs or savings. Does not raise or lower taxes.
HOW IT GOT HERE: Initiative Petition 2026-106 (Respect Missouri Voters); rejected by the secretary of state Aug. 4; ordered onto the ballot by the Missouri Supreme Court Sept. 3.