AG Griffin rejects direct democracy ballot measure again
Why it matters: The state legislature has passed laws making the process of citizen-led ballot initiatives more burdensome in recent years, adding technical hurdles and effectively requiring groups to be well funded to gather petition signatures.
Critics say many of these laws are counter to the state's motto: regnat populus, or "the people rule."
The big picture: Arkansas voters can change or reject laws enacted by the state legislature through a citizen-initiated ballot process.
Changes can be in the form of a proposed ballot initiative as a state statute (a change to a law) or a constitutional amendment (a more significant change to the state's constitution). They may also repeal legislation with a veto referendum.
Driving the news: Griffin first rejected the proposed amendment in June, citing a 2025 law that requires the language to be at or below eighth-grade reading level according to the Flesch-Kincaid scale.
Tuesday's rejection says the language ranks at ninth-grade level and that some proposed changes to the constitution are ambiguous.
State of play:" The Arkansas Ballot Measure Rights Amendment" rejected by Griffin was filed by Protect AR Rights (PAR) and is the second proposal in Arkansas this year to address the referendum process.
The first, named " An Amendment Concerning Constitutional Amendments, Initiated Acts, and Referendums" is backed by Arkansas' League of Women Voters (LWV) and Save AR Democracy. Griffin approved its language in May and organizers are gathering signatures.
Both measures are nuanced, with differences and similarities but a few key points of note:
While LWV's measure says any law dealing with the referendum process passed by the general assembly must be for a legitimate purpose, PAR's measure would give "the people the fundamental right" to make and repeal laws by the process.
LWV's measure doesn't seek to reverse part of 2023's Act 236 that requires petition signatures to be collected in 50 counties rather than the previously required 15, but a lawsuit against the state in April seeks to address the issue. PAR's proposed amendment includes this provision.
The measure by LWV automatically refers all new laws related to the referendum process made by the General Assembly to the voters for approval. PAR's doesn't.
Yes, but: They're similar in that they both would eliminate some burdens for citizens in the process.
Previously, canvassers signed an affidavit. The measures would change the affidavit to a declaration under penalty of perjury.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
Arkansas attorney general approves ballot title to roll back referendum legislation
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A group hoping to roll back recent legislative changes to the Arkansas voter referendum process had its ballot title approved on Monday. Attorney General Tim Griffin approved the third ballot title submission by Protect AR Rights under its popular name, 'The Arkansas Ballot Measure Rights Amendment.' The group intends to roll back legislation passed recently by the legislature that makes it more difficult to place a referendum on the ballot. Judge allows two additional groups to intervene in Arkansas ballot referendum case If approved by voters, the referendum behind the ballot title would amend the state constitution. Griffin had rejected the previous ballot titles because they were above an eighth-grade reading level, as required by a law recently passed by the legislature. Griffin, in his opinion, announced the approval, said the submission was at a 9.2 reading level on the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Formula, but his office made 'a few minor changes to the ballot title that allowed it to meet the eighth-grade standard.' He also noted changing some wording that could be taken to mean there was no law against petition fraud, which, he said in his opinion, was not the case. Appeals court reinstates Arkansas ban on teaching Critical Race Theory He also cautioned the Protect AR Rights that the length and complexity could make the ballot title subject to court challenge. He also reminded the submitters of recent changes to how canvassers and signers must do before signing a petition. Protect AR Rights can now begin the signature-gathering process. If enough signatures are gathered and certified by the Secretary of State's office, the referendum behind the ballot title will appear in the next general election. Arkansas League of Women Voters files federal suit, calls changes to voter referendum process 'Unconstitutional' A similar ballot title was recently approved by Griffin for the Arkansas League of Women Voters, which has also filed a federal lawsuit about the voter referendum changes. Protect AR Rights was granted permission to file its own complaint to the court in that case. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Joy Behar Interrupts Alyssa Farah Griffin To Question If She Really Worked On Pentagon 'War Plans' Before Joining ‘The View'
Everyone's got a past, and Alyssa Farah Griffin's just happens to be extra interesting. After all, she regularly criticizes her former boss on national TV as part of The View panel. But even some of her co-hosts forget everything she did before she earned her seat at the Hot Topics table. (EDITOR'S NOTE: The View is on hiatus from Monday, July 28 until Tuesday, September 2. The episode that ABC aired today was originally broadcast on March 25, 2025, the same date that the article you are currently reading was first published.) Griffin, who first officially joined the show in 2022, previously worked as the White House director of strategic communications and Assistant to the President in 2020 during Donald Trump's first term. She also notably served as press secretary of The Pentagon starting in 2019, and worked as deputy assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs and the press secretary for the United States Department of Defense until 2020. All of that experience that came in handy during today's chat about The Atlantic report detailing how the magazine's editor was accidentally included in a Signal chat in which high-ranking Trump officials discussed impending war plans in Yemen. Griffin gave her co-hosts the run-down of how such planning is traditionally done (spoiler: not by group chat), as she explained, 'Let me tell you how this is supposed to work. So when I was in The Pentagon, I was involved with planning leading up to air strikes a number of times.' She continued, 'So what happens is, either all the senior leaders gather in the White House Situation Room—' but was cut off by Joy Behar, who could be heard asking, 'You were?' Griffin replied, 'Yes,' but Behar was clearly caught off guard, asking again, 'Really?' As Griffin began to list off the plans she was directly involved in at The Pentagon, Sara Haines gently reminded Behar that Griffin's work with the department is old news to The View, telling her, 'You learn this for the first time every time she says it.' Behar, defending herself, replied, 'That she was in on war plans, I never heard that before,' but Griffin wasn't swayed. Swiftly moving on, she continued describing the protocol for situations like the Yemen planning that was leaked to The Atlantic. 'No one would have a personal cell phone. You wouldn't even have your government device with you, and you'd be video-conferencing with the other people that you're with,' she said, adding emphatically, 'An encrypted messaging app is not secure. It is not where you can legally share classified information.' The View airs weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.
Hamilton Spectator
5 days ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Longtime lawmaker shapes the debate as Arizona grapples with dwindling water supplies
PHOENIX (AP) — Throughout two decades marked by drought, climate change and growing demand for water, Arizona's leaders have fiercely debated an increasingly urgent problem: how to manage dwindling water supplies in an arid state. At the crossroads sits Rep. Gail Griffin, a savvy and quietly assertive lawmaker who has for years used her status as the leader of key water and land use committees in the Republican-controlled Legislature to protect property owners' rights, deciding which bills live and die. Griffin's iron fist has infuriated residents and other lawmakers worried that unfettered groundwater pumping is causing wells to run dry. The GOP lawmaker has also drawn the ire of Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, who considered her the barrier to legislation that stalled this year despite having others at the negotiating table. Without the Legislature charting a path, Hobbs could tap her executive authority to carve out specific areas where regulations could be imposed, like she did in recent months with the Willcox Basin north of Douglas. Fighting over a rural framework At the start of this year's session, Hobbs floated a proposal to regulate pumping in rural areas but the bipartisan deal failed to get Griffin's support. Griffin, however, did back a separate measure to let farmers transfer their pumping rights to developers, who can then access credits to demonstrate they have enough drinking water to supply future housing projects. It was one of the most significant pieces of water legislation to win approval this year. Still, domestic well-owner Karen Weilacher and other residents are frustrated that efforts to expand Arizona's 1980 groundwater code have repeatedly failed despite pleas to address unchecked pumping as conditions worsen — in the state and greater Southwest region . Arizona's code already allows for managing pumping in major metropolitan areas. The disagreement is over a framework for rural areas. Lawmakers also have clashed over who would govern the use of the water and pathways for future regulation. Weilacher, earlier this year, addressed the natural resources committee led by Griffin. She pivoted to let the powerful panel read her shirt: 'Water is life.' 'I shall use the remainder of my time to do what Representative Griffin has done to us,' she told committee members, as she turned her back on them. Griffin declined to comment specifically on her role in shaping Arizona's water policy, but she's adamant about her belief that Hobbs' proposal would devastate agriculture and rural economies. 'As we work with stakeholders, we will continue to support private property rights and individual liberty while ensuring that any legislative solution protects local communities and our natural resource industries, allowing rural Arizona to grow,' Griffin said in an emailed response to an interview request from The Associated Press. Rural way of life With a legislative tenure dating back to 1997, Griffin's convictions are anchored in preserving a rural lifestyle in which residents help each other and reject government mandates, said former GOP House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a friend of hers for decades. 'She was a hard-core believer in her principles,' Bowers said. 'And if you didn't respect it, then get the heck out of the way, she'll run over you like a Mack truck.' Back home in Hereford, Griffin has been known to go on walks, armed with her gun and mobile phone. A member of the Arizona Farm Bureau and the Arizona Cattle Growers Association, she has referred to her ranching neighbors as 'true environmentalists' because they take care of the land year-round. At a 2019 forum, Griffin recounted an exchange in which she was advised how to handle a bear busting into her home, questioning at the time whether calling authorities for help would be enough to keep her safe. 'And what will you do when I shoot and kill that bear?' Griffin had asked. She didn't like the answer she got — that prosecution, jail time and a fine would be likely. Griffin won the crowd over with her rural sensibilities. She told them the desire to give people the tools they need to protect themselves and their property is what first led her to run for public office. That hasn't changed. Her stances resonate with voters who repeatedly send her back to the statehouse. Cochise County farmer Ed Curry is one of them but wouldn't say whether he would do so next year as Griffin eyes a seat in the state Senate. He said he and other constituents have begged Griffin to usher in change, sharing stories at a town hall last year about wells drying up and the exorbitant costs residents face when digging deeper wells. 'She doesn't ask, she tells. She doesn't listen, she speaks,' Curry said of Griffin. Curry, who serves on the governor's water policy council, said that even growing crops that don't require much water hasn't kept his wells from dropping. He said new regulations will help to ensure Arizona's future. 'Something has to be done,' he said. ___ The Associated Press' women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures . AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at .
