Missouri House advances redistricting overhaul proposal

Missouri state representatives advanced a proposal on Tuesday to ask voters if they want to undo newly made changes to the state’s redistricting process, among other changes.

The resolution sponsored by Rep. Dean Plocher, R-St. Louis, was approved on a vote of 100-49. Representatives need to vote to pass the proposal before it moves to the Senate.

If passed by both the legislature and Missouri voters, the resolution would eliminate the current $5 limit for lobbyist gifts to lawmakers and would repeal the redistricting process established by Constitutional Amendment 1, also known as Clean Missouri.

Amendment 1 created the $5 gift limit and a system for redistricting that included the appointment of a state demographer. Missouri voters approved the Clean Missouri amendment in November by 62%.

“We’re doing what democracy stands for,” Plocher told ABC 17 News after the vote, which he said was largely along party lines. “We’re giving people a choice at the polls.”

House Minority Leader Rep. Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, has said repeatedly in the last several months that Republicans are working against the will of the voters. The effects of Clean Missouri will go into effect for the first time after the 2020 census.

“The voters just passed this in November. We have not seen that in action,” Quade said.

The redistricting process put in place by Amendment 1 prioritizes competitiveness, which Plocher said will result in distorted district lines that do not promote single community cohesion.

Clean Missouri was presented to voters through the petition process, and was not vetted by lawmakers before it was approved by a significant majority of voters. Plocher said voters should have both options.

“To say that we’re overturning the will of the voters is disingenuous. In fact, we’re taking this to the voters to decide,” Plocher said.

Quade said that voters passed Clean Missouri because they wanted ethics reform, and that Republicans are not proposing a fair system in their proposal.

“(Plocher’s resolution) is completely gutting Amendment 1 and everything that the voters said they wanted, and then giving something completely different,” Quade said.

Gov. Mike Parson, who would need to sign the resolution before it’s put on a ballot, said he has concerns with the Clean Missouri amendment. He said he will consider what legislators agree to send to his desk.

“I have the ultimate respect for the voters out there when they vote on issues. But I also understand, too, how the initiative petition process works,” Parson said. “I’m not sure that you also get the purest product by going through that.”