Missouri voters approved two ballot measures in November 2024. Amendment 3 legalized abortion up to fetal viability. Proposition A created a paid sick leave requirement and raised the minimum wage. Both passed with clear majorities.
The Republican-controlled legislature spent the 2025 session trying to reverse both. Lawmakers advanced a new constitutional amendment to ban abortion again. They moved to repeal the sick leave requirement and portions of the minimum wage increase. The governor signed a law limiting courts from intervening when the legislature writes ballot language for proposed amendments.
Two ballot measures approved by voters in 2024. Both targeted for reversal by the same legislature in 2025.
The Supermajority Trap
The legislature also referred a constitutional amendment to the 2026 ballot that would require a supermajority in each congressional district to approve citizen-initiated measures. Under this rule, every recent successful citizen initiative in Missouri would have failed, including Medicaid expansion, marijuana legalization, the minimum wage increase, and the abortion amendment.
The mechanism is designed to make direct democracy functionally impossible. A single heavily gerrymandered congressional district could block a measure that 65% of the state supports.
Florida Made Petition Collecting a Felony
Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation in 2025 that criminalized parts of the petition process. Collecting more than a specified number of signed petitions without registering with the state is now a felony. Petition signers must provide additional personal information. Deadlines for submitting petitions were shortened.
This followed the 2024 cycle where Florida voters approved a $15 minimum wage and nearly passed an abortion amendment that fell just short of the state’s 60% threshold, a threshold Republicans raised in 2006 specifically to make citizen amendments harder to pass.
60+ Preemption Bills Nationally
The Local Solutions Support Center is tracking more than 60 preemption bills filed for 2026 legislative sessions. Nearly 75% come from Missouri and Florida alone.
The pattern extends beyond ballot initiatives. Tennessee enacted a law declaring all regulation of private-sector employment off limits for counties and municipalities. Iowa and Missouri have proposed $50,000 fines for officials who enforce local policies that conflict with state preemption. The targets include minimum wage, paid leave, rent control, gun regulations, and anti-discrimination ordinances.
This is not a Missouri problem or a Florida problem. It is a coordinated strategy to eliminate the pathways voters use when their legislatures refuse to act.
The Voter Response
A campaign called Respect Missouri Voters is collecting signatures for the November 2026 ballot. Their amendment would prohibit the legislature from repealing or amending a citizen initiative unless 80% of voters approve the changes. It would also prohibit the legislature from altering the citizen initiative process itself.
The campaign exists because voters had to create a ballot measure to protect their right to create ballot measures. That is the cycle these legislatures have manufactured.
What you can do now
-
Check your state’s ballot initiative rules at Ballotpedia to see whether your legislature has filed preemption or supermajority bills. If they have, contact your state representative and senator to oppose them.
-
If you live in Missouri, the Respect Missouri Voters campaign needs petition signatures by the August deadline. Find signing locations and volunteer opportunities.
-
Support the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, which tracks and fights preemption efforts in all 50 states. Their state-by-state tracker shows which bills are active in your legislature.
-
Tell your federal representatives to support the Voting Rights Advancement Act, which includes protections for citizen initiative processes at the state level.