NPR Audio: Missouri organizers want to make it harder for lawmakers to overturn voter-led ballot measures

Missourians voted in favor of paid sick leave benefits for workers last year. But they'll lose access to it Aug. 28.

In May, the Republican-dominated Missouri General Assembly rolled back the sick leave provision and undercut the minimum wage provisions of Proposition A. And they also took steps to ban abortion again after the passage of Amendment 3 last November.

The moves amount to an unfair power grab, says Benjamin Singer, the CEO of Show-Me Integrity.

Singer is a co-founder of Respect Missouri Voters, a bipartisan and volunteer-run coalition aiming to protect citizen-led ballot measures from being overturned. The group wants to put a measure on the November 2026 ballot that would require a bipartisan supermajority — 75 or 80% of lawmakers — to overturn a law passed by initiative petition.

You can listen to the podcast on NPR.