House committee advances bills amending Arkansas ballot initiative process
The Arkansas House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs on Wednesday advanced three election-related bills.
Rep. David Ray, a Maumelle Republican and sponsor of all three bills, said House Bill 1221 would clarify that the certification of ballot titles for initiatives, referenda and constitutional amendments as well as the signatures collected for those measures would only be valid for the next general election.
This is not a significant change and codifies a long-standing practice, Ray said.
'Allowing initiatives to carry over for more than one election cycle would almost certainly result in a massive increase in mistakes, inaccurate signatures and/or downright fraud,' he said.
Rep. Andrew Collins, D-Little Rock, questioned the need for the bill if it's already common practice. Ray said the law would help guard against people trying to circumvent the rules.
Steve Grappe, the executive director of the grassroots organization Stand Up Arkansas and an active participant in citizen-led ballot initiatives, was one of two people to speak against the bill. Grappe, who said he'd be happy to work with Ray to reform parts of the ballot initiative process such as eliminating paid canvassers, argued that new laws have made it more difficult for groups that aren't well-funded to participate in direct democracy.
'We the people have the power and we give it to the General Assembly…and what we've seen over the last several years is this body making it more difficult for grassroots organizations to hold you accountable, or to present the initiatives that we want on the table to the body,' he said.
The citizen-led ballot initiative process garnered much attention during the 2024 election cycle with groups collecting signatures for nearly a dozen ballot measures that addressed a range of topics, including eliminating the tampon tax, expanding abortion access and increasing government transparency.
The sole intiative to make it to the ballot was a measure to repeal a Pope County casino license, which voters approved in November. A measure to expand medical marijuana access appeared on the ballot, but an Arkansas Supreme Court ruling prohibited votes for the measure from being counted.
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After the committee approved HB 1221 on a split voice vote, members next considered another bill from Ray, who said he doesn't believe the current process for reviewing proposed ballot measures is strong enough to protect voters from problematic ballot language.
Currently, Arkansas' attorney general can deem a proposed ballot measure insufficient for issues like a misleading title or confusing language. House Bill 1222 would expand the AG's authority to reject a proposal if it conflicts with the U.S. Constitution or federal statutes.
Additionally, HB 1222 would prevent a sponsor from submitting more than one conflicting petition at the same time, which Ray said 'closes an egregious loophole in the process that led to abuse of this process last session.'
Collins and Rep. Nicole Clowney, D-Fayetteville, questioned how this might conflict with the separation of powers by placing the Supreme Court's power in the attorney general's hands.
Both Ray and Noah Watson, deputy attorney general of the opinions and FOIA division, said this bill would allow the question of constitutionality to be considered at the beginning of the process instead of the end. They also said petitioners who feel they've been aggrieved would still have the right to appeal the attorney general's decision to the state Supreme Court as they do now.
Three members of the public spoke against the bill. No one spoke in support of it.
In explaining her reasoning for voting against the measure, Clowney expressed concern over a section of the bill that would prohibit sponsors from submitting multiple petitions that are 'conflicting measures.' The bill defines conflicting measures as petitions that 'cover the same subject matter; are for the same general purpose; and contain different language in any part of their full texts, ballot titles or popular names.'
'We are giving any future attorney general truly what I see, I cannot read as any other way than a blank check to deny anything that is even closely related,' Clowney said.
Other committee members joined Clowney in rejecting the measure, which ultimately passed on a close voice vote.
The final and least controversial of Ray's proposals considered by the committee was House Bill 1223, which would allow a candidate for the Arkansas Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals who is currently serving in that position as an appointee to use that position as a prefix on the ballot. The measure passed with no discussion on a unanimous voice vote.
All three bills will next be considered by the full House.
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