SB22 - Immediate Action

Fellow Leaguers, the Initiative Petition is still under attack and SB 22 will be the bill to destroy it.  This bill has passed the Senate and is scheduled to be heard in the House on Thursday. See below:

• SB22 would politicize the Initiative Petition process by creating a lengthy, unnecessary and complicated process to challenge an unfair or misleading summary statement of any ballot measure proposed by the General Assembly or via citizen initiative.

• Voters deserve to have fair ballot summaries as they are critical to our 100+ year history of direct democracy. Voters should understand what they are voting for or against.

• SB22 allows the legislature or the Secretary of State to create impossible delays that would harm the ability to educate voters about a ballot measure. SB22 provides that, when courts find that the summary language is flawed, rather than rewriting it, the court would have to send it back to the Secretary of State or state legislature to rewrite it.  If, after 3 times of re-writing, a court still finds the ballot language misleading, the court can re-write the summary, a decision that can be appealed by the state. If the clock runs out between challenges and deadlines for the ballot summary to be finalized, the ballot summary goes back to the original language – yes, the one a court originally found to be misleading. This bill kills the initiative petition process, as it provides no incentive to the state to issue an objective ballot summary—indeed, it provides every incentive to lie about the true intent of a ballot measure. This is why people are calling SB 22 the “Politicians Right to Lie” bill.

Furthermore, SB22 would allow the opening of court ordered injunctions issued by courts prior to the passage of SB22 related to I P related ballot measures. See below for an example of how this is likely to work:

SB 22 could be used to revoke Amendment 3 guaranteeing the right to abortion passed by the voters a mere six months ago. See below:

According to the Planned Parenthood Great Rivers Action:

“Senate Bill 22 could block abortion access. While the word “abortion” is nowhere in the bill, the intent is clear: SB 22 changes the rules to allow the attorney general to appeal a preliminary injunction. A preliminary injunction is the legal process that has allowed Planned Parenthood Great Rivers and Planned Parenthood Great Plains to resume providing abortions in Missouri. So long as the preliminary injunction is in place during the lawsuit to end the ban and enforce Missourians' new Right to Reproductive Freedom, the state cannot enforce the abortion ban and related restrictions. If the legislature passes SB 22, the attorney general could appeal the preliminary injunction and try to convince another judge to let the abortion ban and related restrictions stay in place — once again ending abortion access in Missouri.” https://www.weareplannedparenthoodaction.org/a/moleg-2025-no-on-sb-22

 

What can you do? Call or email your state representative today and tell her/him to vote no on SB 22.  Go to this link to find your State Representative: https://www.senate.mo.gov/legislookup/default (provides both senator and representative)

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Sample letter:

Representative                        ,

Missouri’s ballot measure process is a powerful tool for the people to vote directly on issues that matter to us. Senate Bill 22 would take power away from voters, changing the rules of the ballot measure process to remove important checks and balances. It gives partisan elected officials too much power to collude on ballot language to get their preferred outcome on ballot measures.

 

Personalize your message

Please vote no on SB 22.

 

Sincerely, [Your information here]