Senate committee advances bill requiring ballot initiative titles meet eighth-grade readability standard

House Bill 17‑13 moved forward after more than an hour of testimony and debate over whether a single objective readability test should be applied to citizen‑initiated ballot language.

Representative Rose and Senator Mark Johnson, the bill’s sponsors, told the committee the measure uses the Flesch‑Kincaid grade level formula to require titles and summaries for citizen initiatives, constitutional amendments and referenda be written at or below an eighth‑grade reading level. Representative Rose said the test is content neutral and widely used, and supporters argued the change would help voters understand what they are signing and voting on.

Opponents and expert witnesses told the committee the formula was designed for technical manuals and penalizes longer legal sentences and terms frequently used in constitutional language. Dr. Gail Choate, who identified herself as an educator specializing in civic education, testified that limiting ballot language to an eighth‑grade score risks oversimplifying legal text and creating confusion; she urged investment in civic education and use of abstracts or voter guides instead.

Committee members debated practical consequences. Senator Sullivan asked whether the attorney general’s office had been consulted; sponsors said the AG’s office considers the measure defensible. Several members pressed whether the requirement would conflict with existing case law and court expectations that ballot titles not omit material items; Representative Rose and sponsors said the formula grades readability and does not change substantive court standards for ballot titles.

After public testimony and floor discussion, the committee voted to advance the bill. Sponsors said the language governs only citizen‑initiated measures and that they would support a similar readability standard for legislatively referred measures in a separate bill. Supporters pointed to a list of states that have adopted readability standards, and sponsors repeatedly described the measure as a pro‑voter effort to reduce barriers to understanding ballot language.

What the bill does: House Bill 17‑13 requires that ballot titles and summaries for citizen‑initiated measures meet an eighth‑grade readability threshold measured by the Flesch‑Kincaid grade level formula, and directs the attorney general to refuse certification if the text exceeds that standard.

What supporters said: Backers said the average American reads at roughly an eighth‑grade level and that the measure would make ballot initiatives more accessible to voters who do not read legal prose for a living.

What opponents said: Witnesses and some senators warned that legal terms and necessary precision in constitutional amendments could be penalized by the formula, potentially producing misleading simplifications; others urged broader civic education or use of abstracts and nonpartisan voter guides as alternative or complementary reforms.

Next steps: Sponsors said they would pursue companion language if the committee or full legislature wanted to apply the same standard to legislatively referred measures. The bill will move to the full Senate for further consideration.