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Blunt
Issues Plain Language Explanation For November
Ballot Issues.
JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri
voters will have the opportunity to vote on four
constitutional amendments and one proposition in
the November 5th election. In compliance with the
Constitution of Missouri, Article XII, Section 3
(a), the following Constitutional Convention
question will also appear on the November ballot:
Shall there be a convention
to revise and amend the Constitution?
The current Missouri
Constitution, adopted by voters in 1945, requires
that the question of whether or not to call a
convention to write a new state charter be placed
on the ballot every 20 years.
Secretary of State Matt Blunt
approved the following plain language
explanations of the ballot issues. A simple
majority of votes cast will determine whether
these issues pass or fail. The actual ballot
language is in bold print.
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT #1
Shall the Missouri
Constitution be amended so that the citizens of
the City of St. Louis may amend or revise their
present charter to provide for and reorganize
their county functions and offices, as provided
in the constitution and laws of the state?
The estimated fiscal impact
of this proposed measure to state and local
governments is $0.
This amendment would allow home
rule in St. Louis. St. Louis is the only Missouri
municipality with the legal status of both a city
and a county in the Missouri Constitution.
Currently, city voters can change St. Louis’
municipal functions under the city charter, but
the Missouri Legislature can only change county
duties. This amendment was placed on the ballot
by the General Assembly.
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT #2
Shall Article XIII of the
Missouri Constitution be amended to permit
specified firefighters and ambulance personnel,
and dispatchers of fire departments, fire
districts, ambulance districts and ambulance
departments and fire and emergency medical
services dispatchers of dispatch agencies, to
organize and bargain collectively in good faith
with their employers through representatives of
their own choosing and to enter into enforceable
collective bargaining contracts with their
employers concerning wages, hours, binding
arbitration and all other terms and conditions of
employment, except that nothing in this amendment
shall grant to the aforementioned employees the
right to strike?
The annual costs to paid
fire departments and districts, ambulance
departments and districts, and dispatch agencies
to enter into collective bargaining contracts are
approximately $251,600 to $3,145,000, depending
upon the number of entities entering into such
contracts.
This amendment grants
collective bargaining rights to decide wages,
hours worked, and all terms of employment,
without granting the right to strike, for paid
firefighters, ambulance personnel, and ambulance
and fire dispatchers. This amendment was placed
on the ballot by initiative petition.
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT #3
Shall Article III, Section 8
of the Missouri Constitution be amended to
exclude, from the calculations of term limits for
members of the General Assembly, service of less
than one-half of a legislative term resulting
from a special election held after December 5,
2002?
The estimated fiscal impact
of this proposed measure to state and local
governments is $0.
This amendment would provide a
limited exemption to the state’s
constitutional cap of eight years of service per
legislative chamber by exempting partial terms of
less than half of a full term would be exempt
from counting against the cap.
Current lawmakers would not
qualify for the exemption. This amendment was
placed on the ballot by the General Assembly.
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT #4
Shall joint boards or
commissions, established by contract between
political subdivisions, be authorized to own
joint projects, to issue bonds in compliance with
then applicable requirements of law, the bonds
not being indebtedness of the state or political
subdivisions, and such activities not to be
regulated by the Public Service Commission?
This measure provides potential
savings of state revenue and imposes no new
costs.
This amendment would allow
local political subdivisions to jointly own and
operate utilities without being subject to the
direction of the Public Service Commission, which
regulates private utility companies. This
amendment was placed on the ballot by the General
Assembly.
PROPOSITION A
Shall Missouri law be
amended to impose an additional tax of 2.75 cents
per cigarette (fifty-five cents per pack) and 20
percent on other tobacco products, with the new
revenues placed into a Healthy Families Trust
Fund to be used for the following purposes:
hospital trauma care and emergency preparedness;
health care treatment and access, including
prescription drug assistance for seniors and
health care initiatives for low income citizens,
women, minorities and children; life sciences
research, including medical research and the
proper administration of funds for such research;
smoking prevention; and grants for early
childhood care and education?
An additional tax of two and
three-quarters cents per cigarette and an
additional tax of twenty percent of the
manufacturer’s invoice price for tobacco
products other than cigarettes would generate net
annual state revenues of approximately
$342,636,000; local fiscal impact, if any, is
unknown.
This proposition asks voters to
authorize a 55-cent increase in the excise tax on
each pack of cigarettes and a 20 percent increase
on the tax on other tobacco products to generate
new funding for health-related efforts. This
proposition was placed on the ballot by
initiative petition.
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