This Week’s Guest Column from Senator Will Kraus: 2016 Initiative Petitions

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Initiative petitions allow citizens to directly alter Missouri statutes and the state constitution. The process allows registered voters to sign petitions requesting that a specific ballot question be put to a statewide vote. Initiative petition proposals that garner enough signatures are voted on in general election years, meaning any eligible citizen-sponsored proposals will go on this November’s ballot.

To get an initiative petition on the ballot, a citizen or group of citizens must first submit proposed ballot language and the petition language to the Missouri secretary of state for approval. After the language is approved and the state auditor prepares an estimate of how much the proposal would cost, the petition can be circulated. Depending on if the petition contains a statutory or constitutional change, it must garner a certain number of signatures from six of the eight congressional districts in Missouri. After meeting that number, the signatures are turned into the secretary of state’s office at least six months prior to the general election. The secretary of state’s office then verifies the validity of the signatures with local election authorities. After verifying a petition has sufficient number of valid signatures, the secretary of state issues a certificate of sufficiency, and the proposed question is placed on the ballot. The secretary of state must issue a certificate of sufficiency by the 13th Tuesday prior to the election, which falls on August 9 for this year’s general election.

The deadline for submitting initiative petition signature for the 2016 general election was May 8. There were five petitions submitted that the secretary of state’s office is currently verifying. If enough valid signatures are verified, the public will be able to vote on the following issues in November.

Raising the cigarette tax for transportation funding

 One of the proposals would raise the state’s cigarette tax by 23 cents a pack. The money would be used to improve transportation infrastructure throughout the state.

Raising the cigarette tax for early childhood education funding

 Another proposal submitted would raise the state’s cigarette tax by 60 cents per pack over four years. The money raised would go primarily to fund early childhood education programs, as well as health and smoking cessation programs.

Limiting campaign contributions

 This proposal would reinstate limits on campaign contributions. It would impose a blanket $2,600 limit for any individual to a candidate’s campaign and cap contributions by political parties at $25,000 for an individual candidate.

Allowing the use of medical marijuana

 This proposal would allow doctors to write prescriptions for the use of medical marijuana in order to manage pain associated with a serious medical condition. It would also set up a licensing system to grow marijuana for medical sales only.

Prohibiting sales tax on services

 Currently, state sales tax is only imposed on the sale of goods, not services. This constitutional amendment would prohibit the implementation of a sales tax on services such as haircuts and beauty services, realty services, legal services, etc.

Once the petitions have been issued a certificate of sufficiency, the ballot language will be accessible on the secretary of state’s webpage, www.sos.mo.gov. More details on the initiative petition process can be found here.