By State Sen. Sam Graves
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By State Sen. Sam Graves
The Missouri Senate this week gave approval to a resolution giving voters a chance to
Senate Joint Resolution 53 would place a constitutional amendment before voters to reduce House membership from the current 163 to 105 members. The passage of this legislation would cause the State of Missouri to lose 58 representatives. The bill adds another member to the Senate, increasing the current seats from 34 to 35.
The amendment, if approved by voters, would make the change in conjunction with the redrawing of House Districts that follows each US Census. The bill would not take effect until 2002. At this time we will also see the implementation of term limits, those incumbents will not be removed from their current respective districts. This is an attempt to give more power to the urban areas.
Reducing the House of Representatives would cause citizen representation to decrease. Representation, especially to those in rural areas, will be less effective. The House of Representatives was set up in our constitution as a House to represent the people. That definition does not mean expanding the districts to the point citizens feels their voice is not important or not heard.
The Senate Resolution received its final vote in the Senate, passing 19-14. The legislation will now head for the House. Leaders on both sides of the aisle in the House have said the bill will get little support. I will continue to fight the power grab by the urban legislatures at the expense of rural Missourians.