Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Lawmakers debate requiring legislative positions on citizen initiatives on ballots
Summary
A bill from Rep. Lucas Schubert would put a partisan breakdown of legislators’ support or opposition to citizen initiatives on the voter information pamphlet and ballot; proponents said it would increase transparency, opponents called it partisan and unnecessary.
Representative Lucas Schubert, sponsor of House Bill 375, told the House State Administration Committee the bill would require the secretary of state to poll legislators after counties verify signatures and then publish the results—broken down by partisan affiliation—on the voter information pamphlet and ballot.
Schubert said the measure would add transparency to an “opaque” initiative process and let citizens see where legislators stand. “This bill is needed to increase transparency in the ballot initiative process,” Schubert said, noting that recent initiatives were heavily funded by outside groups.
The bill drew support from Austin James of the secretary of state’s office, who said voters had previously found legislative polling information useful and that the voter pamphlet is an appropriate place for the legislature’s opinion. “When the court removed that process … the court was very precise and said that it wasn’t the…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
