Four petitions added to November ballot in Missouri

Four initiative petitions will appear on Missouri’s general election ballot in November, including two that will increase taxes on cigarettes and tobacco.

Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander’s office announced today the four initiatives received enough signatures from six of the Missouri’s eight congressional districts, making them eligible for November’s ballot.

Three of the petitions are Constitutional Amendments. They include:

– Constitutional Amendment 2, which would placelimits on the amount of money individuals and organizations can donate to political parties, candidates and campaigns. This amendment would also stop contributors from keeping the source of these funds a secret.

– Constitutional Amendment 3, which would increase the tax oncigarettesthrough 2020, when the tax would equal 60 cents per pack of 20. The additional revenue would go toward a new Early Childhood Health and Education Trust Fund.

– Constitutional Amendment 4, which would impact a government agency’s ability to revise tax structures.

The fourth petition will be named Proposition A. It proposes an additional tax increase on cigarettes in 2017, 2019, and 2021. The raised tax would equal 23 cents per pack of 20 cigarettes, and the money would be used to fund transportation infrastructure.

A fifth petition was close to making it onto the ballot, but only received enough signatures in five of the six required districts. District 2, which covers suburbs outside the St. Louis area, did not collect enough signatures to pass the measure.

In each case, districts 4 and 8 failed to get enough signatures. District 4 is Columbia’s district.