126-2025: INITIATIVES.INITIATIVE PETITIONS.

A TTORNEY GENERAL OF M ISSOURI
A NDREW B AILEY
Supreme Court Building
207 W. High Street
P.O. Box 899
Jefferson City, MO 65102
Phone: (573) 751-3321
Fax: (573) 751-0774
www.ago.mo.gov
July 11, 2025
OPINION LETTER NO. 126-2025
The Honorable Denny Hoskins
Missouri Secretary of State
James C. Kirkpatrick State Information Center
600 West Main Street
Jefferson City, MO 65101
Dear Secretary Hoskins:
This opinion letter responds to your request dated July 2, 2025 for our review
under § 116.334, RSMo of a proposed summary statement prepared for the petition
submitted by Jamie Howard, 2026-065. The proposed summary statement is as follows:
Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:
• Prohibit the legislature from changing citizen-initiated measures or enacting
laws similar to those rejected by referendum, unless 80% of legislators refer the
change to voters, regardless of when the measure was approved or rejected;
• Bar legislatively referred amendments from restricting initiative or
referendum rights, including by raising signature thresholds, narrowing topics,
or delaying judicial review;
• Require most ballot measures to be decided at general elections, unless a
single-measure special election is approved by 80% of legislators and the
governor; and
• Require courts to rewrite misleading ballot titles?
Pursuant to § 116.334, RSMo, we approve the legal content and form of the
proposed statement. Because our review of the statement is mandated by statute, no
action that we take with respect to such review should be construed as an endorsement
of the petition, nor as the expression of any view regarding the objectives of its
proponents.
Very truly yours,
ANDREW BAILEY
Attorney General
OP-2025-138