JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Supporters of a ballot initiative designed to bail out the pension system for Missouri sheriffs and prosecutors have launched a fundraising campaign.

The Committee to Ensure a Future for Sheriffs & Prosecutors filed paperwork with the Missouri Ethics Commission on Friday to begin taking in checks to help pay for a campaign in support of Amendment 6 on the Nov. 5 ballot.

The political action committee has not reported any contributions over $5,000 thus far. Its treasurer is Melissa Lorts, who is the executive director of the Missouri Sheriffs’ Retirement System.

Lorts did not respond to a request for comment.

At issue is a question placed on the November ballot by the General Assembly seeking to reverse a unanimous Missouri Supreme Court decision that said a $3 fee charged on every court case in Missouri to fund the sheriffs’ retirement system was unconstitutional.

Since 1875, Missouri has had a constitutional provision in Article 1, Section 14 known as the “open courts” provision. Based largely on England’s Magna Carta, the language provides that the courts are not to put up barriers to justice, such as costs that some people can’t afford.

Some municipal judges had already rebelled against the fee, saying, in short, that a person paying a speeding ticket in St. Louis shouldn’t be responsible for helping fund the pension of a sheriff in another county.

Typically, public sector retirement plans are paid out of general state funds raised via income and sales taxes, not fees.

If approved by voters in the upcoming election, the fee structure to pay for pension benefits would be set by the Legislature.

Without the proposed change, the system’s funding level could drop to 73% by the end of the year, down from a 100% level before the court decision, the Jefferson City News Tribune reported in June.

The system paid out $3.8 million in retirement benefits last year, the newspaper reported, and is projected to receive only $450,000 this year from the 5% sheriffs’ contributions.

In previous years, the court fees accounted for about $2.1 million in annual funding for the retirement system.

There are 114 active sheriffs participating in the system that contribute to the fund.

The formation of a fundraising PAC for the initiative comes as voters will face six questions on the Nov. 5 ballot, in addition to races for governor, other statewide offices and the Legislature.

Alongside the pension question are initiatives to legalize abortion and sports betting, raise the minimum wage, allow for a casino at the Lake of the Ozarks and ban ranked-choice voting.

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