referendum
The chairman of the election law subcommittee handling controversial changes to the referendum and petition process said Tuesday that the bill isn’t dead, despite the fact that it awaits action by the subcommittee and would need numerous amendments to make it palatable to stakeholders.
But with just 13 days left in the 90-day session, Election Law Subcommittee Chairman Jon Cardin, D-Baltimore County, conceded, “The chances of it moving have decreased.”
“No action has been taken,” Cardin said in a phone interview. “We’ve been trying to work with all of the different stakeholders to come up with something that we could all work with.”
SB 821 threatens petition process
Arkansas State Senators will vote today on Senate Bill 821, sponsored by Sen. Keith Ingram of West Memphis, which would place extremely heavy new burdens on Arkansas’s initiative and referendum process.
Also today, the Advance Arkansas Institute has released a paper by Citizens in Charge President Paul Jacob, which outlines the roadblocks SB 821 places on the I&R process in the Natural State, including the creation of an extensive state registration, training and tracking program for paid petition circulators and making it a crime to “relate” pay to productivity.
Jacob noted that “the bill almost seems designed to make it difficult or impossible for citizens to run successful ballot campaigns.”
Laws in 2012 prompted Maryland’s first statewide ballot referendum in 20 years, allowing marriage equality, the Dream Act and congressional redistricting to be upheld by voters.
And if those who don’t agree with Maryland’s likely ban of the death penalty try to get voters to reverse it, a new bill could create obstacles for them and other citizens looking to petition state laws to ballot, lawmakers say. Legislation by Delegate Eric Luedtke, D-Montgomery, would demand several things from those circulating petitions to force a ballot issue.
It would require the sponsor to form a ballot issue committee, which is a campaign finance entity, for each law that is challenged.
The conservative group Judicial Watch has asked the Court of Special Appeals to overturn last November’s referendum on a new congressional redistricting map for Maryland, contending the wording of the ballot question was misleading.
Backed by Del. Neil Parrott’s MDPetitions.com, Judicial Watch filed an appeal of a Circuit Court decision last year upholding the wording. The plaintiffs asked the appeals court to require a new election using different ballot language.
The General Assembly approved the new map drawn up by Gov. Martin O’Malley and Democratic legislative leaders in a special session in 2011.
Ohio House Republicans passed a controversial bill Wednesday that would make it harder for citizens to mount petition drives to repeal laws and introduce their own.
Hours later, the Senate signed off on the House version of the bill, sending it to Gov. John Kasich for approval.
Senate Bill 47, which initially passed the Senate March 6, has moved swiftly through the GOP-controlled legislature, vexing Democrats and advocacy groups who say a provision in the bill would jeopardize voters’ longstanding right to initiative and referendum.
After passing the Senate with bipartisan opposition and only Republican support, Senate Bill 1108 passed the House State Affairs Committee in similar fashion and could soon hit the House floor.
In hearings, testimony has been bipartisan and overwhelmingly against Idaho’s SB 1108, a bill that makes qualifying an initiative or referendum much more difficult. Â In addition to an already very onerous statewide signature requirement, SB 1108 would add a severe new condition that petitions also contain 6% of registered voters in at least 18 legislative districts. Adding 18 new petition drives to qualify a ballot measure would dramatically drive up costs.
Testimony so far this morning on SB 1108, the Senate-passed bill to make it tougher to qualify an initiative or referendum measure for the Idaho ballot, has been almost all against the bill. Anne Nesse of Coeur d’Alene brought a petition against the bill that she said has 580 signatures collected online from all over the state, both from rural and urban areas, and is getting 100 more signatures a day. “I have met personally with Kootenai County Republicans, who were appalled, frankly,” she said. “They were practically hugging me when I left, and I’m a Democrat.” She told the committee, “I would guess that you should check with your constituency on this.”
Regnat Populus has issued a rallying cry for good government advocates to fight Sen. Keith Ingram’s bill to make it far more difficult to qualify popular initiatives for the ballot.
Paul Spencer, chair of the good government group, sees the fine hand of lawyers for the state’s casino monopolies ”” at Oaklawn and Southland ”” in the measure. Hard to quarrel. It’d be cheaper for them to never have to face casino proposals than to have to spend on lawyers to fight them when they surface, as happened last year.
Testimony so far this morning on SB 1108, the Senate-passed bill to make it tougher to qualify an initiative or referendum measure for the Idaho ballot, has been almost all against the bill. Anne Nesse of Coeur d’Alene brought a petition against the bill that she said has 580 signatures collected online from all over the state, both from rural and urban areas, and is getting 100 more signatures a day. “I have met personally with Kootenai County Republicans, who were appalled, frankly,” she said. “They were practically hugging me when I left, and I’m a Democrat.” She told the committee, “I would guess that you should check with your constituency on this.”
A national voter rights group is targeting Montgomery County Democrat, Delegate Eric Leudtke’s  assault on the right to petition, with a mailer.
Citizens in Charge, a national voters rights group is sending a targeted mailer to Leudtke’s legislative district to educate his constituents about the assault on their rights.
“House Bill 493 is misnamed ”˜The Referendum Integrity Act.’ It should accurately be called ”˜The Referendum Suppression Act,’” said Citizen’s in Charge president, Paul Jacob in a statement.
When voters went to the polls last November, they noticed several measures they do not typically see.
The three referendums on the ballot came directly from the 2011 Legislature, and current lawmakers are aiming to do more of the same in 2014.
They are running up against a deadline next week to propose referendum bills. So far, Republicans have made at least 15 requests on topics ranging from property taxes to sex education.
“It is a good way to have people engaged with the legislative process,” said Rep. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell. “I think it gives them an idea of what goes on here.”
After facing referendums that froze two property taxes last year, the Summit County Council is keeping a close eye on a bill that revises the referendum law.
First substitute S.B. 66, Referendum Revisions, sponsored by Sen. Stuart Reid, has moved through the Utah Senate and House Government Operations Committee and is now before the Utah House of Representatives.
To gain favor in the Senate, Reid reverted to the current signature requirements needed for a referendum.
“One of the issues with this legislation was the percentage of those who had to be involved in a referendum from the latest presidential election,” Reid said. “That seemed to be the major concern of some of the body. This substitution reverts back to the original percentages in code today.”
The process by which Marylanders petition a new law to referendum would become more difficult under a bill under consideration in Annapolis.
Republicans view the electronic petition process as a way to level the playing field with the Democratic majority. Others argue, “What do you need elected officials for if tough issues are always put on a ballot?”
Essentially, the debate divides over whether it’s power to the people or a power grab by the Democrat-controlled State House.
The city is rescinding an ordinance that would have created a beach utility, another demonstration of the power of the petition.
Residents in this shore community have used the power of initiative and referendum recently to reverse decisions made by the three-member City Commission including the 50-year lease of a Boardwalk property and beach, plans to buy a downtown property for recreation, and most recently the utility’s formation.
Residents say the use of petitions gives them the ability to keep local government in check, but some city officials say it is being used to micromanage city government.
Some Wyoming residents have begun an effort to repeal a new state law that removes many duties from the state superintendent of public instruction.
Organizers of the statewide petition drive want to get enough signatures to put Senate File 104 n known as the “Hill bill” n on the general election ballot in November 2014.
Gov. Matt Mead signed the bill into law. The measure replaces current State Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill with a director appointed by the governor. Jim Rose has been appointed as interim director, and a permanent director must be appointed by Dec. 1 from three names submitted to the governor by the State Board of Education.