Nov. 3, 2026 ballot measures affecting business explained
By Ray McCarty, president/CEO, Associated Industries of Missouri
October 27, 2026 - Here are the measures that will appear statewide on the November 3, 2026, ballot. The highlighted proposals would affect Missouri businesses.
Amendment 3 - Abortion
Restores abortion limitations, allows exception for rape and incest, requires parental consent for minors, prohibits gender transition procedures for minors. A "yes" vote is in favor of restoring an abortion ban with these exceptions; a "no" vote to leave abortion rights in place.
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Amendment 6 - Initiative Petition Protection
AIM strongly opposes Amendment 6. This proposal would make it virtually impossible for the legislature to change ANYTHING passed by voters through initiative petition. Because it is relatively easy to get the necessary signatures and for large population areas to approve proposals with few details, we are very concerned this will not just be bad for businesses but for all Missouri citizens. The measure would also prevent the legislature from making changes in the votes required to approve an initiative petition or referendum petition. Initiative petitions are proposed laws usually started by a special interest group that gathers sufficient signatures to place the issue on the ballot. Referendum petitions refer acts of the General Assembly to voters for approval or rejection.
Readers may recall the minimum wage/paid sick leave initiative petition that was recently passed by voters. Voters likely knew the proposal would raise the minimum wage and require paid sick leave for workers. But very few likely knew the details of the proposal: prohibiting employers from asking why an employee is calling in sick; prohibiting disciplinary action or failure to promote employees with excessive absences; allowing lawsuits against employers who violate any provision of the act; and more. The provisions were so problematic that even employers who already provided sick leave to their employees found they could be subject to lawsuits for simply asking why an employee was calling in sick. AIM and other business advocacy groups lobbied to repeal the provisions. The legislature repealed the paid sick leave requirement and left the minimum wage increase in effect without an automatic annual increase for inflation. The legislature would have been unable to repeal the act if Amendment 6 were in effect.
If Amendment 6 becomes law, the following provisions would be placed in the Missouri Constitution:
The initiative petition and referendum petition process would become a fundamental right;
The legislature would be prevented from "weakening" initiative or referendum powers;
The legislature could not change or repeal laws enacted through the initiative process, or pass laws similar to those rejected by referendum, without approval from at least 80% of the House and 80% of the Senate; and,
Existing majority vote and signature requirements for initiative and referendum petitions would be permanently written into the Missouri Constitution unless changed by a future constitutional amendment.
Here are the funding sources for money raised for and against Amendment 6. As you can see, a vast amount of money has been raised, primarily from unions and other groups outside Missouri, to support Amendment 6, while very little has been raised against the proposal.
Supporting A6:
"Respect MO Voters Campaign" Raised: $439,241; Spent $399,345; Cash on Hand (COH): $245,741.
"Vote Yes on Amendment 6" Raised: $3,123,358; Spent $2,584,058; COH: $618,566.
TOTAL IN SUPPORT: $7,410,309+
Opposing A6:
"MO Protect PAC" Raised $75,714; Spent $30,237; COH $60,346.
TOTAL IN OPPOSITION: $166,297
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Amendment 7 - Endowment-styled Investment Fund
AIM supported SJR 95 which became Amendment 7. The proposal sets up an endowment styled investment fund. The General Assembly may appropriate money into the fund and interest would compound. When the interest earned on the fund is enough to offset the amount the state currently receives from all of the following taxes, the taxes would be eliminated: individual income and corporation income taxes; the state sales and use taxes; and all other state-imposed taxes in order of priority determined by a future statute.
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Amendment 8 - Requires election of county sheriffs.
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Proposition A - Gerrymandered legislative district map that would dilute Democrat votes in the Kansas City area with the stated goal of flipping a seat currently held by Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver to Republican control. A "yes" vote is in favor of changing the map and a "no" vote is opposed to changing the map.
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You may find more information on all of these proposals by visiting the official Secretary of State website here: https://www.sos.mo.gov/petitions/2026BallotMeasures
