State Senate passes initiative reform measure

After weeks of heated debate, the Missouri Senate was finally able to pass Senate Joint Resolution 74 — an initiative petition reform bill — on to the House of Representatives.

Following a 20-plus hours long filibuster from Senate Democrats that began Monday, Feb. 19, and ran into Tuesday afternoon, SJR 74 initially passed with an 18-12 vote.

On Thursday, Feb. 22, the Senate held its final vote on SJR 74, passing it on to the House. Senators voted down the line, as all 22 Republicans voted “yes” against 10 Democrat votes. Despite the apparent victory, District 27 Sen. Holly Thompson Rehder was hesitant to express her relief following the bill’s passage.

“It is (a relief), but as I've said in many of my social media posts, they were holding the floor up to move the bill faster. That doesn't make sense, right?" Thompson Rehder said. "To me it's like, 'Well, what's going to be the next thing?'"

According to Thompson Rehder, Senate Republicans finally came together to move the bill through the chamber after receiving reassurance from House GOP members that some of the provisions removed during debate woudl be added back in. Provisions removed from the bill included allowing only U.S. citizens to vote on constitutional amendments and forbidding foreign countries from funding changes to constitutional amendments.

“I feel like we're really close as far as all the Republicans being on the same page about it, but we'll see what happens in the house. Anything's possible," Thompson Rehder said. "My main issue is that I want the rural voices to be heard. In our current process, you don't have to get too much help from the rural areas to get something passed on the ballot. I do feel like that issue is something that is important to the majority of the Republican representatives. ... I think that these issues will absolutely be on the bill."

Currently, it is illegal in Missouri for non-citizens to vote, as outlined in Article VIII, Section 2 of the Missouri Constitution. However, Thompson Rehder and other Republican Senators said the current statute isn’t specific enough with its language.

“I think there's enough gray area there, and we had members disagreeing all over the place as to whether it's gray or not," Thompson Rehder said. "To me, it's like, 'OK, well, if it might be gray, something that important, let's just fix it. Let's just fix it. We know that that's the intent because some of them are saying, 'Oh, it's already in there.' OK, then let's make it certain."

After Thursday's vote seemingly re-united the Republicans in the Senate, Thompson Rehder said she is looking forward to moving on to other business.

"I have some really important bills to help the kids in our foster system and to help prevent sex trafficking in our state," Thompson Rehder said. "I also have an immigration bill, as we see with all that's happening down at the border. ... I know I'm not the only one that has legislation, and I know it's important to the overall wellbeing of our state."