Tenn. amendments posted online

Voters can view 4 proposed changes to state constitution

NASHVILLE — Tennesseans vote this fall on four proposed amendments to the Tennessee Constitution — on abortion, an income tax, judicial selection and charitable gambling. It’s the most on the same Tennessee ballot since 1978, when 13 changes to the state constitution were up for ratification.

The constitutional referendums are set for the Nov. 4 general election ballot, nearly f ive months away, but Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett has posted the four amendments on the his state website for voters to begin reviewing and considering. Advertising campaigns for and against some of the amendments have already begun and will heat up as the referendums draw closer.

“Although these amend- ments will not appear on the ballot until November, voters are starting to debate their merits,” Hargett said. “Now these amendments are readily accessible on our website to give people the opportunity to learn about them so they can make well-informed decisions at the ballot box.”

Amendment 1 nullifies a Tennessee Supreme Court ruling in 2000 that said the state constitution provides abortion rights. The amendment specifies that the constitution neither “secures or protects a right to abortion...,” and allows the state legislature to regulate abortion and potentially to ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is ever overturned at the national level.

Amendment 2 would replace the current provision saying the “judges of the (state) Supreme Court shall be elected by the qualified voters of the state,” with new language that essentially reflects the current system of selecting appellate court judges: initial appointment by the governor, followed later by retention elections in which voters decide whether to retain or remove them. The new provision adds confirmation of the appointees by the legislature, which is not currently done.

Amendment 3 bans the state and local governments from enacting new personal income or payroll taxes, but keeps the existing state tax on certain interest and dividend income.

Amendment 4 allows the legislature to authorize an annual gambling event for the benefit of nonprofit veterans organizations like the Veterans of Foreign Wars, AmVets and the American Legion. Those 501 (c-19)organized groups were not included in the 2002 state lottery amendment that allows 501 (c-3) charitable organizations to conduct an annual charitable gambling event if specifically approved by the legisla- ture.

Tennesseans did not amend their state constitution very much until about 60 years ago. After the original constitution of 1796 and its revision in 1835, the constitution was virtually rewritten after the Civil War, in 1870, as one of the requirements for the state to return to the Union.

And then no changes occurred for 83 years, until the state constitutional convention of 1953 proposed six major amendments ratified by voters, including a four-year term for governors. Four more conventions followed, in 1959, 1965, 1971 and 1978. The f ive conventions from 1953 through 1977 resulted in a total of 26 amendments ratified by voters, and no convention has been called since 1977.

However, Tennesseans have ratified seven amendments proposed by the only other method allowed by the constitution: amendments drafted and proposed by the state legislature.

The constitution provides for only two methods of proposing amendments — by constitutional convention, where delegates elected by the people debate and draft amendments to propose to voters, and by the state legislature, which must approve prospective amendments in two consecutive terms of the General Assembly, the second time by two-thirds of each house.

In both cases, voters get the final say on whether mendments are ratified or rejected. Amendments proposed by a convention can be placed on a statewide ballot anytime and require only a simple majority of votes to pass.

But the bar is higher for amendments proposed by the legislature: The referendum must be on the same ballot as the next general election for governor, and to be ratified, the number of “yes” votes for the amendment must be greater than the “no” votes AND greater than one-half of the total number of votes cast for governor.