Idaho Governor Brad Little (R) vetoes ballot initiative legislation passed by Republican-controlled legislature
The Idaho State Legislature approved a pair of bills last week designed to increase the number and distribution of signatures needed to place initiatives on the ballot in the state. The bills would also reduce the amount of time allowed to circulate initiative petitions for signatures, limit each initiative to only a single subject, and require initiatives to file a fiscal impact statement.
Idaho is one of 22 Republican trifectas. On Friday, Governor Brad Little (R) vetoed one of the bills—Senate Bill 1159—and announced he would veto the second—House Bill 296. S 1159 contained the more significant changes to the initiative process, while H 296 was a trailer bill reducing the magnitude of some of the provisions of S 1159.
Both bills were approved in the legislature with a majority of Republican members voting in favor and opposition from all voting Democrats. Neither bill passed, however, with veto-proof margins in both chambers.
Little said that despite his vetoes, he agrees with the goals and vision of the two bills. He said, “I reluctantly vetoed S 1159 and plan to veto H 296 because I question the constitutional sufficiency of the bills and the unintended consequences of their passage. The bills invite legal challenges that likely will result in the Idaho initiative process being determined by the liberal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals — the same Circuit that recently decided Idaho should pay for gender reassignment surgery for a transgender inmate serving time for molesting a child. We need to do all we can to control the rules of our initiative process.”
Little also said that he supported giving rural Idahoans “a voice in the initiative process” and limiting the initiative process so it does not interfere with representative government and that he would work with the legislature to examine the state’s initiative process in the future. He said, "Idaho cannot become like California and other states that have adopted liberal initiative rules that result in excessive regulation and often conflicting laws.”
Senate Bill 1159 would have made the following changes to Idaho’s initiative process:
- increased the signature requirement for initiatives and veto referendums from 6 percent to 10 percent of votes cast at the last general election;
- increased the state's distribution requirement to require initiative and referendum petitioners to meet the 10 percent requirement in 32 legislative districts; (currently, petitioners must meet the signature requirement in 18 legislative districts)
- reduce the amount of time allowed for signature gathering from 18 months to 180 days (about six months);
- enact a single-subject rule for initiatives;
- require a fiscal impact statement for each initiative certified for the ballot.
House Bill 296 would have made the distribution requirement apply in two-thirds (24) of legislative districts instead of 32 and would allow nine months for signature gathering instead of 180 days.
Ballotpedia is tracking nearly 150 changes to laws governing ballot measures and recall in 31 states proposed in 2019, including changes to distribution requirements, signature requirements, subject restrictions, ballot language rules, supermajority requirements, and bills proposing to establish initiative or referendum processes in states without them. So far, significant changes have been approved in Arkansas and Utah.
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