Top leaders in the Senate on both sides of the aisle are cool to the idea, and a Ballwin Republican introduced legislation in the House Wednesday asking for his colleagues to join him in opposition to giving voters across the state the ability to determine whether to combine the city and the county.

“The appropriate way to change the structure of government in St. Louis City and St. Louis County is to convince the voters within those jurisdictions that such change would be beneficial,” declares a resolution filed by Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin. “It is inappropriate to enact a change by convincing voters elsewhere in the state.”

The opposition to a statewide vote comes as a St. Louis nonprofit called Better Together, funded largely by billionaire financier Rex Sinquefield, is poised to announce an initiative to gather signatures for to put consolidation on the November 2020 statewide ballot.

The idea is to bring all of the police departments, court systems, roadways and economic development arms of the city, county and 88 municipalities under one unified umbrella.

Better Together Executive Director Nancy Rice has said consolidation of certain aspects of local government would require an amendment to the Missouri Constitution, which would require a statewide vote.

Dogan said asking voters in Rolla, Springfield and other parts of the state to decide the fate of the St. Louis region is “undemocratic.”

“Plus, that’s a dangerous precedence for the rest of the state,” Dogan said.

He also noted that at least 57 of the municipalities in the county have gone on record opposing a statewide vote.

Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, also panned the idea of a statewide vote.

“Obviously, I think that majority of the constituents who have communicated with me believe that’s an issue that should be resolved by the people who reside in St. Louis County,” Schatz told reporters earlier.

“They’ve communicated with me very clearly that they believe that’s an issue that belongs to the citizens that it’s going to affect,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Gina Walsh, D-Bellefontaine Neighbors, also has filed a resolution opposing a statewide vote or legislative action on a reorganization of government in the region.

“I do not think that somebody in a rural area in Missouri should be able to vote on that,” Walsh said earlier.

Both Walsh and Dogan introduced similar resolutions last year.

A committee-level hearing was held on the House resolution last year, but it was never taken up by the full House for a vote before legislators went home for the year. There was no action on Walsh’s resolution.

Dogan said he hoped the prospect of a ballot initiative would help push his legislation across the finish line this spring.