Panel favors rules change to ballot issues

Plan would oblige initiatives to gain 60% of popular vote

A proposed amendment to the Arkansas Constitution that would raise the threshold for statewide ballot initiatives to become law to 60% of the popular vote, up from a simple majority, was recommended to the full House by a committee on Wednesday.

House Joint Resolution 1005 by Rep. David Ray, R-Maumelle, earned the most votes from members of the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs, the panel in charge of recommending which of the proposed constitutional changes go to the House floor for consideration by the body. Lawmakers on the committee ranked their first, second and third choices from among proposals.

The Legislature, when it meets in regular session every two years, can select up to three constitutional amendments to recommend to voters in the next general election.

Committee members’ discussion Wednesday focused on how likely it would be for Arkansans to approve the amendment, as well as the potential benefits of their top three amendments to residents.

The committee’s other top choices were House Joint Resolution 1001 by Rep. Frances Cavenaugh, R-Walnut Ridge, which would authorize the Legislature to convene itself in special session, and House Joint Resolution 1004 by Rep. Stephen Meeks, R-Greenbrier, which would allow the Legislature to reduce or eliminate personal property taxes and would eliminate personal property taxes by Jan. 1, 2047.

Rep. John Payton, R-Wilburn, said he liked HJR1005 but didn’t know if voters would approve it. He compared it to a past proposal, which failed by more than 10 percentage points in the last general election, to overhaul Arkansas’ process for amending the constitution by making it harder for the Legislature and petitioning groups to get measures on the ballot.

Rep. Marcus Richmond, R-Harvey, said HJR1005 is different from Issue 3, the measure that failed in 2020, and has a better chance of passing in a popular vote.

Richmond added that the proposed amendment would stop “the outside influence” from affecting Arkansas ballot initiatives.

House Majority Leader Austin McCollum, R-Bentonville, cited a poll that showed that a majority of Arkansans supported raising the ballot initiative passage threshold to 60%.

Rep. Jeff Wardlaw, R-Hermitage, also spoke in support of HJR1005, saying the committee should honor the results of its point system.

“I want to stand behind what we agreed to do,” Wardlaw said.

Rep. David Whitaker,

D-Fayetteville, said he could see increasing the ballot initiative threshold one day, but disagreed with holding the public to a higher standard than what the Legislature holds itself to. Whitaker is one of two Democrats on the State Agencies committee.

David Couch, a Little Rock attorney who has been involved with several ballot initiative efforts, said there would be opposition to the proposal, which he called “horrible” in a text message Wednesday.

Meeks urged the committee to approved HJR1004, the measure on property taxes.

“We need to consider what the voters are going to like and not like,” Meeks said. “We need to prioritize what is in the best interest of our citizens.”

The committee ultimately sent the measure to the House for consideration on a divided voice vote.

Meanwhile Tuesday, the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs approved a separate proposed constitutional amendment, Senate Joint Resolution 10 by Sen. Breanne Davis, R-Russellville, which would allow the Legislature to call itself into special session upon the submission of signatures from at least twothirds of members of both chambers or by a joint proclamation from House and Senate leadership, the same thing HJR1001 would have done.

Davis referred SJR10 back to the committee on Wednesday.

In a separate action Wednesday, the House voted for a bill that would require paid canvassers for ballot initiatives to be Arkansas residents, and would prohibit them from being paid per signature. The bill also fixed an issue in the existing paid-canvasser law that resulted in three issues being struck from the ballot last fall.

The issue was a section of the law that required groups soliciting signatures for ballot issues to obtain federal background checks for their paid canvassers from the Arkansas State Police, even though the agency does not run those background checks. Senate Bill 614, by Davis, would amend the section to require canvassers obtain a general criminal history search from the state police.

While no one spoke against the bill on the floor Wednesday, Couch criticized the bill for adding other burdens to groups soliciting signatures.

“She fixed it by eliminating everybody that generally comes and helps canvass,” Couch said.

The bill passed the House on a 72-18 vote, with mostly Democrats voting in opposition. The bill now heads to the Senate for consideration.