The Missouri General Assembly on Friday ended an annual session marked by fierce Republican infighting that derailed the party’s hopes of passing limits on direct democracy, ahead of an expected statewide vote this fall on overturning of Missouri’s abortion ban.
Republicans had made raising the threshold for amending the state constitution a top priority. But as Democrats staged the longest filibuster in state history earlier this week, Republican senators, riven by internal conflict, could not agree on cutting off debate and forcing a vote.
The Senate on Wednesday backed down on the proposal, which would have overhauled the state’s initiative petition process. The decision effectively ended any hope of passing additional major legislation. On Friday, the Senate simply adjourned without any debate, hours before a mandatory 6 p.m. adjournment
The measure’s failure capped a turbulent session often gripped by Republican conflict. An ethics investigation into House Speaker Dean Plocher, a St. Louis-area Republican who is campaigning for secretary of state, divided the House as some lawmakers called for him to resign. And in the midst of an election year, the session pitted Republican candidates against each other as they sought votes ahead of the August primary.
The House of Representatives passed a number of bills on Friday, including a sweeping public safety package. The House also approved a constitutional amendment that would ban ranked choice voting. The proposal will go to a statewide vote later this year.
Earlier this year, the Legislature passed a sweeping education bill that focused on four-day school weeks, raising teacher salaries and expanding a grant program to send students to private or charter schools. Republican Gov. Mike Parson signed the bill into law in May.
However, several important measures died, including a bill to ban child marriage.
Republican lawmakers fought Friday over who was responsible for the failure of the initiative petition review, which had been looming all session. The leaders of the House of Representatives and the Senate each pointed the finger at the other chamber. And mainstream Republicans and a far-right group called the Freedom Caucus also fought over attribution of responsibility.
Before both chambers adjourned for the day, Plocher called a press conference on Friday morning. He accused the Senate of failing to pass the measure to overhaul the initiative petition process.
“This is their mess,” he said. ‘They didn’t function. Debate the bill and vote on it. That’s all we’ve asked for for the past six years.”
After the Senate adjourned for a year, Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, a Republican from Columbia, laid the blame on the House of Representatives.
“They’re good guys,” Rowden said. ‘They’ve just got it wrong here. They have an account. They can pick up the bill and pass it on if they want.”
The legislation would require future amendments to the state constitution to essentially be approved twice: a majority vote in at least five of the state’s eight congressional districts, and a majority vote statewide.
Currently, statewide constitutional amendments require only a majority vote and are used by voters of both parties to pass policies when the General Assembly fails to reach an agreement.
Senate Democrats had vowed to block the measure unless Republicans agreed to remove misleading language associated with the measure, which has been labeled a “ballot measure” to entice voters.
The ballot question presented to voters would have asked Missourians whether they wanted to ban foreign interference in voting measures and allow only U.S. citizens to vote on constitutional amendments. Both are already illegal.
Republicans had hoped to put the proposal before voters in August, raising the possibility that supporters of overturning the state’s abortion ban, if passed, would face a tougher time in a vote on the issue which is expected in November.
One of the Freedom Caucus’ most outspoken leaders, Sen. Bill Eigel of Weldon Spring, said Friday he was still optimistic that the potential vote on abortion rights could fail.
“Don’t be afraid of the message… that this fight against the abortion culture of death is just not something we can win, we can win,” said Eigel, who is running for governor. “No matter how many failures we see with all these politicians, I think a lot of people will be surprised, whether it’s in August of this year or in November.”
After the Senate adjourned, Sen. Jill Carter, a Granby Republican who left the Freedom Caucus this year, criticized social media in the final weeks of the session. She pointed to an attempt by Republicans to employ a rarely used procedure to end the debate, called moving the previous question or PQ.
“Multiple PQ sheets, multiple signatures, lots of discussions…half-truths on both sides and a room full of hostility that meant nothing,” Carter posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Plocher investigated
Lawmakers in the House of Representatives began this year’s session with a cloud of controversy hanging over their Republican leader, Plocher, who faced a monthslong ethics investigation into a slew of scandals.
The secretive House Ethics Committee dug into the flurry of allegations, including revelations that Plocher received nearly $4,000 in government reimbursements for expenses already paid by his campaign, urged the House to award an expensive technology contract to an outside firm and allegedly threatened House staffers. .
The investigation lasted months and revealed some divisions among Republicans: those who fervently supported Plocher and those who called for him to step aside as chairman.
Those rifts came to a head last month when the committee’s chairman, Rep. Hannah Kelly, a Republican from Mountain Grove, forced a public vote on a draft investigative report on Plocher. Although the vote failed, the report became public and alleged that the highest Republican office had repeatedly obstructed the investigation.
Kelly accused Plocher, or his office and supporters, of taking steps to intimidate witnesses and block committee subpoenas that would have forced witnesses to testify.
The Ethics Commission ultimately dismissed the complaint against Plocher, a vote in which top Republicans touted it as a victory. Shortly afterwards, another complaint was filed, this time against Kelly. That complaint was also promptly rejected by the committee.
As this year’s chaotic legislative session came to a close Friday, lawmakers — many of whom are leaving office this year — took time to reflect on where the General Assembly would go in the future.
Was this year’s session, largely defined by Republican infighting and insults, a sign of things to come?
“I don’t know what the Senate will look like in the future,” Rowden said. “I hope that the people who run this place and the people who are part of the chamber respect the institution. The institute is important.”
Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, a nonpartisan Democrat, said it will be up to Republicans, who control both chambers of the General Assembly, to decide what decorum looks like in future sessions.
“You have a clear opportunity to really change the way the Senate has operated over the last few years and the dynamics of it and the vitriol,” he said. “Don’t let the bullies win. And I think they have taken the first step in that.”
