Missouri
Missouri legislators are considering a measure that would require a greater showing of public support before questions are placed on a ballot. Democratic Sen. Joan Bray told a Senate committee Monday that there should be demonstrated support for a ballot petition before state officials spend time and taxpayer money approving it.
The Missouri House Agriculture Policy Committee this morning held a hearing on two bills, HJR 86 and HB 1825, both of which would create an individual right for Missouri citizens to be free from any state law or regulation that imposes an “undue economic burden” on any type of animal husbandry. The legislation appears to be an overreaching response to the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act now circulating for the November statewide ballot.
Cole County Judge Pat Joyce said she will decide by the end of the month whether a petition to allow voters to change the constitution to elect appellate court judges can go forward in its present form. A lawsuit challenging the initiative wants the ballot language rewritten to emphasize the potential influence of money on the judicial selection process.
Approached this weekend by a congenial woman with a clipboard in her hand and puppy pin on her lapel? Meet the Humane Society’s Army of Signature Gatherers. Volunteers for the animal welfare organization were out in force this weekend, collecting signatures for a ballot initiative seeking tougher state regulations on dog breeding facilities, so-called “puppy mills.”
This video is getting multiple airs during prime time on St. Louis TV news. KTVI-TV covers 
the efforts of a Missouri group to qualify a constitutional amendment for this fall’s ballot.
Placing security cameras downtown is a good idea, members of the Chamber of Commerce say. The chamber issued a news release Thursday endorsing the initiative petition, that appears on the April 6 ballot, calling for cameras. The chamber’s board of directors had previously approved a recommendation from the Government Affairs Committee encouraging the City Council to revisit the downtown camera issue, but the request was denied. A group of Columbia citizens later presented the council with a petition to allow citizens to vote on the issue in April.
The Missouri Farm Family Agriculture Alliance is urging citizens against signing a ballot initiative for the so-called “Puppy Mill Cruelty Protection Act.” In a news release, the alliance of agricultural interests says The Humane Society of the United States is targeting “targeting Missouri dog breeders in a veiled attempt to regulate animal agriculture in Missouri.”
Mike Parson hates voters, that is the only thing we can conclude. Why else would he try year after year to gut Missouri voters’ ballot initiative process?
Philanthropist and retired investment fund manager Rex Sinquefield has formed a new political committee that will push to eliminate St. Louis City’s 1 percent earnings tax. Sinquefield, president of the public policy research organization Show-Me Institute, gave $500,000 this week to start up the new committee, called Let Voters Decide, according to documents filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission.
A new state ballot initiative committee wants stricter regulations for commercial dog breeding operations in Missouri. Representatives of several animal protection agencies held a forum that drew about 100 people last night to the Columbia Public Library to gather support for an initiative they call Missourians for the Protection of Dogs.