Missouri Realtors spend $2 million to fight Amendment 4 limits on citizen initiative petitions

The Missouri Association of Realtors donated $2 million Monday to defeat Amendment 4, pouring new money into a fight over citizen-led ballot initiatives just days after spending nearly the same amount to oppose a separate tax overhaul on Missouri’s Aug. 4 ballot.

Together, the two contributions put one of the state’s most powerful trade groups at the center of campaigns against two constitutional amendments placed on the ballot by Republican lawmakers and Gov. Mike Kehoe.

The Realtors gave $2 million to Missourians for Fair Governance, the campaign committee opposing Amendment 4. The measure would change the way citizen-led constitutional amendments are approved in Missouri.

Under current law, constitutional amendments proposed by initiative petition can pass with a simple statewide majority. Amendment 4 would require citizen-led constitutional amendments to win approval in every one of Missouri’s eight congressional districts. A proposal that won statewide but failed in one district would be defeated.

The higher threshold would not apply to constitutional amendments placed on the ballot by the legislature.

Missouri Realtors pour $1.9 million into campaign to defeat Amendment 5 tax plan

Scott Charton, spokesman for Missourians for Fair Governance, said the Realtors see Amendment 4 as a direct threat to a process the association has used to pass taxpayer protections.

“Missouri Realtors have led citizen coalitions that successfully proposed and passed constitutional taxpayer protections for Missourians,” Charton said. “The citizen initiative is a powerful advocacy tool for Realtors’ top priority of housing affordability, and Missourians for Fair Governance is committed to protecting the peoples’ power.”

The $2 million donation came less than a week after the Realtors gave $1,900,001 to Missourians for Fair Taxation, the committee opposing Amendment 5. That measure would authorize lawmakers to expand or increase the sales tax to to phase out Missouri’s individual income tax.

The two donations mean the Realtors have put nearly $4 million into the August ballot fights in a matter of days.

The Realtors have successfully used the intuitive petition process twice in recent years.

Voters approved a Realtor-backed constitutional amendment in 2010 prohibiting state and local governments from imposing new taxes on the sale or transfer of homes or other real estate. Six years later, voters approved another Realtor-backed amendment barring the state from expanding the sales tax to most services.

The group argues Amendment 5 could undermine those tax protections by giving lawmakers new authority to broaden the sales tax base and Amendment 4 would make it nearly impossible for citizen groups to use the ballot to restore or enact similar protections in the future.

Supporters of Amendment 4 say the Missouri Constitution should be harder to amend and that statewide changes should have broad geographic support. During legislative hearings, backers argued the initiative process has increasingly been driven by outside interest groups and that requiring approval in every congressional district would ensure all regions of the state have a voice.

Opponents say the measure would give one congressional district veto power over the rest of the state. They also argue the proposal creates a double standard by imposing the new rules only on citizen-led amendments, not those proposed by lawmakers.

Amendment 4 was approved by lawmakers during a special session last year and was originally expected to appear on the November 2026 ballot. Kehoe moved it, along with Amendment 5 and two other constitutional amendments, to the Aug. 4 primary ballot.

The August date gives campaigns less time to organize and could place the measures before a lower-turnout electorate than a November general election. But the Realtors’ spending makes clear the fight over Amendment 4 will not be quiet.

The measure is one front in a yearslong battle between Missouri’s Republican-controlled legislature and groups that have used initiative petitions to pass policies lawmakers opposed. In recent years, voters have used citizen-led ballot measures to expand Medicaid, legalize recreational marijuana, raise the minimum wage, require paid sick leave and add abortion rights to the state constitution.

Republican lawmakers have repeatedly tried to make the initiative process harder, arguing the constitution is too easy to amend and that liberal groups have used ballot measures to bypass the legislature. Those efforts have repeatedly stalled in the Senate, until lawmakers revived and passed Amendment 4 during the 2025 special session.

Missouri Realtors have been among the most consistent opponents of those efforts.