Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Ballot Initiative topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senate debate opens on rewrite of ballot-initiative rules, proposes 10% signature threshold
Summary
Sen. England introduced SCR 518 to reestablish a statewide ballot‑initiative process with a 10% of active-voter signature threshold (about 189,000 today), a one‑third cap per congressional district and 60% passage requirement for measures with major fiscal effects; sponsors included a reverse‑repealer for further conference work.
Senator England laid out a reworked ballot‑initiative measure (SCR 518) intended to replace the process struck down by Mississippi courts. The proposal would require petitioners to gather signatures equal to 10% of active registered voters; "for a ballot initiative today, [that] would require essentially about a 189,000 signatures," he told colleagues.
The resolution would prohibit initiatives that amend the state constitution, PERS or local/special law and would limit signatures from any one congressional district to one‑third of the total. It also would require petition language to identify funding sources for any measure that imposes substantial state costs and would raise the approval threshold to 60% for such measures. Senator England asked members to approve the measure with a reverse‑repealer so remaining technical and drafting issues could be resolved in conference.
