Amendment 5 could see Missouri National Guard change offices

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Next week, state voters will have a chance to vote on Amendment 5, which would move Missouri's Department of National Guard from it's current partnership with the Missouri Department of Public Safety.

State Rep. Adam Schnelting (R-St. Charles) introduced the amendment to the Missouri House of Representatives.

If passed, the Amendment would see Missouri's National Guard move from its current position with Missouri's Department of Public Safety, to an administrative department within Missouri's Executive Branch. The General for the National guard would become a member of the governor's cabinet.

"When a disaster strikes... instead of the adjutant general and our military forces having to go through a bureaucratic process, he would answer directly to the governor," Schnelting said when he introduced the amendment to the House of Representatives.

On April 6, the amendment passed the House of Representatives with a 126-2 vote. On May 5, the Senate voted 31-0 to pass it.

Missouri is only one of two states who doesn't already have the National Guard working underneath the governor.