New law that empowers AG in abortion rights case and changes ballot measure process challenged in court
Ryan Shiner
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A Lee’s Summit man filed suit Friday against a law designed to give the attorney general more power in a lawsuit over abortion rights and changes how ballot questions are written.
Gov. Mike Kehoe signed Senate Bill 22 into law on Thursday in Cole County. The law allows the attorney general to appeal any injunctions issued before Aug. 28 and makes changes to the initiative petition process. The law allows the secretary of state to write three revised ballot summaries if a judge finds them lacking.
It also says that signature collections for initiative petitions may begin once the secretary of state certifies the official ballot title, even if the title is being challenged in court.
Attorney General Andrew Bailey had already filed an appeal Friday that challenged a decision that allowed abortion in Missouri following the passage of Amendment 3 in November.
The petition in Friday’s case – filed by Sean Nicholson, the former director and founder of liberal political activist group Progress Missouri – lists the state, Bailey and Secretary of State Denny Hoskins as defendants. It states that Nicholson has advocated for and against a number of ballot measures.
The petition argues that the new process for ballot summary challenges makes future challenges more time-consuming.
The lawsuit alleges the new law violates the Missouri Constitution in that “no bill shall be so amended in its passage through either house as to change its original purpose” and that “no bill shall contain more than one subject.”
It also alleges other violations to the Missouri Constitution, including violating equal rights and opportunity, and asks that the law be invalidated.