Latest news with #SB207
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bills to change Arkansas' citizen-led petition process continue to move through Legislature
Rep. Kendon Underwood, R-Cave Springs, presents Senate Bill 207 to the Arkansas House on Monday, February 24, 2025. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate) Proposed changes to Arkansas' citizen-led ballot initiative process continued to advance through the state Legislature on Monday, with more movement expected throughout the week. Two bills sponsored by Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, passed a House committee for the second time after being amended and will go to the House floor next. A third bill passed the House and will return to a Senate committee for concurrence on an amendment. The bills are among several Hammer is sponsoring that members of the public have said will impede Arkansans' ability to participate in direct democracy. Hammer, House sponsor Rep. Kendon Underwood and Secretary of State Cole Jester have all claimed petitions for ballot measures circulated last year contained many duplicate signatures, which is prohibited by state law. Underwood, a Cave Springs Republican, presented Senate Bill 207 to the House and later presented Senate Bill 208 and Senate Bill 211 to the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs. SB 207 would require canvassers for ballot-measure petitions to inform potential signers that petition fraud is a criminal offense. The section of Arkansas code governing initiatives and referenda designates petition fraud a Class A misdemeanor. 'I think many people just don't know that these are serious government documents, and this corrects that error,' Underwood told the House. '…[This bill would] protect the democratic process by helping to ensure that legitimate signatures are collected and reducing fraudulent activity that undermines the public trust.' Rep. Tippi McCullough, D-Little Rock, asked Underwood how the state would collect evidence to prosecute canvassers for failure to comply with the requirement in the bill. Underwood said evidence 'could be provided in a number of ways.' McCullough said she thought the requirement could 'chill this process' of collecting signatures, echoing concerns expressed in recent weeks by opponents of the bill and by other Democratic lawmakers. 'If you're putting someone in the position of doing a video recording [to prove compliance], it's kind of interrupting the process between the canvasser and the voter,' McCullough said. She and 16 other House Democrats, plus nine Republicans, voted against SB 207. Three of the Republicans who voted against it — Julie Mayberry of Hensley, Mark McElroy of Tillar and Jeremy Wooldridge of Marmaduke — also voted against it in committee last week. Five Republicans did not vote, and the remaining two Democrats, Glenn Barnes and Ken Ferguson of Pine Bluff, voted present. SB 207 has an emergency clause, which would allow it to go into effect immediately upon the governor's signature. Emergency clauses need a two-thirds vote in each chamber, and the 67 Republicans who voted for SB 207 gave the emergency clause the bare minimum of support it needed for passage. SB 208 and SB 211 also have emergency clauses. All three bills initially passed the Senate at or beyond the two-thirds threshold of 24 votes. SB 208 would require canvassers to request a photo ID from potential signers, and SB 211 would require canvassers to file a 'true affidavit' with the secretary of state certifying they complied with the Arkansas Constitution and state laws related to canvassing, perjury, forgery and fraudulent practices in the procurement of petition signatures. Signatures submitted without the affidavit would not be counted. The House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs approved both bills as amended Monday, a week after hearing nearly six hours of public comment before passing the bills. Kwami Abdul-Bey, representing the Arkansas state conference of the NAACP, spoke against the bills both Monday and last week. He said he appreciated the amendment to SB 208, which clarifies the type of photo ID the bill would require under existing state law, since he had expressed concerns about this technicality at the Feb. 17 meeting. Abdul-Bey said he remained concerned about SB 208 because it did not include exceptions for voters who live in long-term care facilities or are in the military, since state law exempts them from presenting a photo ID to vote. He also said he opposed SB 211's requirement for a 'true affidavit' because the term carries criminal liability. State law already requires ballot question committees to submit an affidavit identifying paid canvassers by name and provide proof that the committee explained to canvassers the state's laws for soliciting signatures and gave them the Secretary of State's initiatives and referenda handbook before they started canvassing. This affidavit is not a 'true affidavit' and therefore only carries civil liability, Abdul-Bey said. He also questioned why the proposed requirement in the bill could not be incorporated into the existing affidavit requirement. 'Not only are we creating an extra piece of paper, but we are also criminalizing the act of collecting signatures for a ballot measure,' said Abdul-Bey, who works for the Arkansas Public Policy Panel and has participated in multiple citizen-led ballot efforts in the past few years. No other members of the public spoke for or against the bills, and the committee approved both bills with split voice votes after no discussion. SB 208 and SB 211 will go to the House floor for a vote and back to the Senate if approved. The Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs is expected to take up SB 207 as soon as Thursday. SESSION SNAPSHOT: Battle over regulating citizen-led petitions in Arkansas continues Hammer is sponsoring two more bills, SB 209 and SB 210, which he asked the Senate to place on Tuesday's calendar. Senate Bill 209 would disqualify signatures collected by canvassers if the secretary of state finds 'by a preponderance of evidence' that they violated state law collecting the signatures. Senate Bill 210 would require potential signers to read the ballot title of a petition or have it read aloud to them in the presence of a canvasser. It would also make it a misdemeanor for a canvasser to accept a signature from people who have not read the ballot title or had it read aloud to them in the presence of a canvasser. Both bills passed the Senate on Feb. 12, but they failed to receive the two-thirds majority vote required to pass the bills' emergency clause. The Senate approved Hammer's motion to expunge the vote, and the bills again failed to gain enough support for the emergency clauses on Feb. 13. Hammer said Monday that Tuesday will be the last time he brings the bills to the chamber for consideration. 'Members, I promise you no matter who's in the room or who's not in the room, we'll vote it and see what happens and we'll be done with it tomorrow,' Hammer said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Deputy Editor Antoinette Grajeda contributed to this article.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Panel approves amended mandate for Arkansas canvassers to warn petition signers of fraud crime
Sen. Kim Hammer (left), R-Benton, and Rep. Kendon Underwood (right), R-Cave Springs, present an amended bill to the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs on Wednesday, February 19, 2025. Senate Bill 207 would require canvassers for proposed ballot measures to disclose to signers that petition fraud is a criminal offense. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate) A bill that would require canvassers for ballot measures in Arkansas to disclose the criminality of petition fraud to potential signers passed a legislative committee Wednesday after being pulled down for amendments Monday. Senate Bill 207 is one of a slew of proposed laws sponsored by Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, and Rep. Kendon Underwood, R-Cave Springs, that would alter the citizen-led initiative petition process. Arkansas is one of 24 states that allows this process to change laws and the state Constitution, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Hammer and Underwood have said their proposed legislation would protect the integrity of the initiative petition process and deter fraudulent activity. The section of Arkansas code governing initiatives and referenda designates petition fraud a Class A misdemeanor. House members pointed out Monday that the statute pertaining to fraud against the government designates petition fraud a Class D felony. Underwood subsequently amended SB 207 to require canvassers to state that petition fraud is simply 'a criminal offense.' The House is expected to take up the amended bill Thursday. Two people spoke against the bill Wednesday before the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs. Existing state law includes a list of actions considered fraud on initiative or referendum petitions, but SB 207's mandated statement for canvassers does not include such specifics, said Christin Harper, policy director for Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. 'The vast majority of Arkansans already know fraud is illegal and are entering the petition process not with nefarious intentions, but with a desire to participate civically in their communities and support issues they care about,' Harper said. 'A better way to prevent fraud is to enforce current laws and to train canvassers to ask voters if they have already signed.' Brady Shiers, database administrator with the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, said the legislation would 'have a serious chilling effect, not only for signers but also for canvassers.' The bill would make a canvasser's failure to disclose the criminality of petition fraud liable for a Class A misdemeanor charge. Shiers called this 'a gross overreaction.' 'If I'm a volunteer with a grassroots petition campaign and I now see that accidental failure to say a few words means I can not only ruin the campaign I believe in but also end up having serious legal consequences, I'd be scared to death to even sign up to be a canvasser,' he said. House Minority Leader Andrew Collins, D-Little Rock, expressed similar concerns about a chilling effect on participation in direct democracy. Rep. David Ray, R-Maumelle, offered a different perspective. 'Every time I've ever gone to purchase a gun and I fill out the background check form, I'm asked a series of questions… It states very clearly on the form that if I respond to any of those questions in a way that I know is inaccurate, I'm committing a felony, but that has never had a chilling effect on my intent or ability to purchase a firearm,' Ray said. The same House committee met for nearly six hours Monday and heard much public testimony, mostly in opposition, before passing two other bills related to ballot initiatives and sponsored by Hammer and Underwood. Senate Bill 208 would require canvassers to request a photo ID from potential signers, and Senate Bill 211 would require canvassers to file a 'true affidavit' with the secretary of state certifying they complied with the Arkansas Constitution and state laws related to canvassing, perjury, forgery and fraudulent practices in the procurement of petition signatures. Signatures submitted without the affidavit would not be counted. Underwood amended both bills Tuesday, meaning the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs will have to pass them again. The change to SB 208 clarifies the type of photo ID the bill would require under existing state law, and the change to SB 211 would exempt signatures from disqualification due to the 'inability of a canvasser to submit an affidavit due to death or medical disability.' Members of the public could not comment on SB 207 during Monday's meeting after it was pulled from the agenda. Committee members acknowledged that inclement weather likely prevented more speakers besides Shiers and Harper from testifying at Wednesday's meeting. The committee considered waiting to vote on SB 207 until the next meeting Feb. 24 in order to allow more people to testify then, but a motion to do so failed despite bipartisan support. The bill passed on a roll call vote with nine Republicans voting for it, including Ray. Five committee members voted against it: Republican Reps. Julie Mayberry of Hensley, Mark McElroy of Tillar and Jeremy Wooldridge of Marmaduke; and Collins and his fellow Little Rock Democratic Rep. Denise Ennett. If the amended SB 207, SB 208 and SB 211 pass the House, they will return to the Senate, which they passed last week with at least 24 votes each. The bills' emergency clauses require a minimum of 24 votes, two-thirds of the Senate, and would allow them to go into effect immediately upon the governor's signature. Hammer and Underwood are sponsoring two more initiative petition bills that received 22 Senate votes each, meaning the bills passed but their emergency clauses failed. Senate Bill 209 would disqualify signatures collected by canvassers if the secretary of state finds 'by a preponderance of evidence' that they violated state law collecting the signatures. Senate Bill 210 would require potential signers to read the ballot title of a petition or have it read aloud to them in the presence of a canvasser. It would also make it a misdemeanor for a canvasser to accept a signature from people who have not read the ballot title or had it read aloud to them in the presence of a canvasser. Hammer said Tuesday that he will bring the two emergency clauses back to the Senate floor Monday. Six senators were absent from the chamber Wednesday due to inclement weather. Arkansas' elections are overseen by the secretary of state, a position Hammer is seeking in 2026. Another bill he sponsored, Senate Bill 212, would have created a law enforcement agency within the secretary of state's office that could investigate the validity of submitted documents related to elections and ballot initiatives. The bill failed in committee last week. Bills to improve Arkansas maternal health, change ballot initiative process head to Sanders' desk Hammer is also the Senate sponsor of two bills introduced by Ray that are currently on the governor's desk: House Bill 1221 and House Bill 1222. HB 1221 clarifies 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. HB 1222 expands the attorney general's existing authority to reject a proposal if it conflicts with the U.S. Constitution or federal statutes. It would also prevent a sponsor from submitting more than one conflicting petition at the same time.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Proposed Arkansas legislation poses danger to citizens' direct democracy efforts
Arkansans protest several bills introduced by Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, that would change the citizen-led ballot initiative process Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025 at the Arkansas Capitol. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate) Eight anti-direct democracy bills sponsored by Rep. David Ray and Sen. Kim Hammer threaten Arkansans' fundamental right to self-governance. Even one of these — HB1221, HB1222, SB207, SB208, SB209, SB210, SB211 and SB212 — threaten Arkansans' fundamental right to self-governance. Even one of these bills becoming law would severely weaken our direct democracy, affecting state, county and municipal levels. During the Senate State Agencies & Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Hammer and his supporting citizens repeatedly mentioned 'abortion' in their commentary about these 'petitioning' bills. It appears the true aim of this legislation is to destroy the direct-democracy process to prevent abortion access from reaching the ballot, as it nearly did in 2024. Further, the committee's actions, which included limiting the voices of Arkansans who traveled to the Capitol to share their concerns about the bills, reinforce a dangerous precedent set during the last legislative session. This creates a potentially dangerous scenario of the Legislature versus The People. Arkansas has long been a national leader in constitutionally protected access to direct democracy. These bills are part of a broader, coordinated effort across the country, with Arkansas being one of many states targeted by 171 proposed measures to restrict direct democracy. The only beneficiaries will be legislators seeking to consolidate power, along with wealthy, out-of-state special interests that can afford to manipulate the system. Unconstitutional emergency clauses: Many bills contain emergency clauses that violate Arkansas Supreme Court rulings. Constitutional violations: Several bills attempt to bypass or weaken constitutional protections for direct democracy. Unequal power structure: These bills would establish an unfair and unconstitutional imbalance of power between the Legislature and the people. Exploitable loopholes: By adding unnecessary procedural barriers, these bills create new ways for opponents to easily block citizen-led ballot measures. None of these bills improve the direct democracy process. I have repeatedly called for legislation requiring the Secretary of State, Attorney General and Ethics Commission to create clear, consistent administrative rules for ballot initiatives under the Arkansas Administrative Procedures Act. This would address issues caused by conflicting statutes and siloed agency responsibilities. Arkansas currently ranks 50th in the nation in both civics education and civic engagement. Instead of restricting direct democracy, the Legislature should seize this moment to build on civic energy and create a more accessible, transparent process that strengthens our democracy. Shackling direct democracy, restricting political speech and undermining our state motto are an affront to all Arkansans. Every legislator who values their oath of office and believes in protecting both Arkansas and the U.S. Constitutions should stand with the people and vote against these anti-democracy bills. As a native Arkansan who has managed four grassroots ballot initiative campaigns in the past five years, I can attest that these eight bills are deliberately designed to discourage participation and price ordinary Arkansans out of the process. Our state motto is 'Regnat Populus (The People Rule).' Let's ensure it remains true by rejecting these harmful bills and preserving our strong tradition of direct democracy. Arkansas should continue to lead the nation in empowering its citizens, not become a cautionary tale of democracy's erosion. The Arkansas Public Policy Panel provides hands-on experience in civic participation by helping community groups organize, create infrastructure, set goals and develop action plans to reach those goals.
