By Mark Zinn

Copyright fox2now

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Lawmakers in the Missouri House passed two measures Tuesday outlined in Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe’s call for an extraordinary session. The Republican-controlled state House passed a controversial proposal that would redraw the state’s congressional maps to give the GOP a chance to flip one of the two Democrat-held seats. The new district maps from Kehoe’s office significantly alter Missouri’s 5th Congressional District, an office currently held by Democrat Congressman Emanuel Cleaver. The current boundary of the 5th district encompasses much of Kansas City. The proposed district would still include parts of Kansas City, but spreads the boundaries down the Interstate 70 corridor into parts of Columbia. President Donald Trump publicly called for the state to redraw maps to give Republicans more of an edge in next year’s midterm elections. The final House vote on the congressional maps: 90-65. The other measure passed by members of the Missouri House deals with reforms to the state’s initiative petition process. In particular, Republicans have long argued that it’s too easy to change the state’s constitution. Under the legislation passed by the House, a statewide ballot question would require a majority of the votes in all of Missouri’s eight congressional districts. Currently, a simple majority of votes is needed statewide. The question would still require a vote of the people before being enacted. The final vote for initiative petition reform: 98-58. Both votes were mainly along party lines, except for a short list of Republicans who voted no. Missouri House Speaker Jon Patterson, a Republican, voted no on both bills. The measures now head to the state Senate for their consideration.