Mississippi Citizen Initiative Process Amendment (2022)
| Mississippi Citizen Initiative Process Amendment | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 8, 2022 | |
| Topic Direct democracy measures | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin State legislature |
The Mississippi Citizen Initiative Process Amendment (HCR 39) was not on the ballot in Mississippi as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 8, 2022.
Overview
Mississippi's initiative process was invalidated following a court ruling invalidated Initiative 65, a medical marijuana amendment in 2020. Before the process was invalidated, citizens of Mississippi could indirectly initiate constitutional amendments. Mississippi residents could not directly initiate state statutes or repeal legislation via veto referendum. Once enough signatures were collected, the Mississippi State Legislature could choose to adopt the measure by a majority vote in each house. If the legislature rejected the measure, the proposed amendment would proceed to the ballot; the measure would also go to the ballot if the legislature approved the measure. Alternatively, the legislature could choose to approve an amended version of the measure. In this case, both measures appeared on the ballot together.
This measure was designed to amend the constitution to create a new initiative process for citizens in Mississippi to initiate legislation. Under the amendment, residents could have proposed initiated state statutes, which would have been placed on the ballot once enough signatures were collected, without the need to be presented to the legislature first. The process would not have allowed for initiatives to amend the state's constitution. There would have been a limit of five ballot measures on a single ballot, being the first five to submit signatures and be verified by the Mississippi Secretary of State.[1]
Text of measure
Full text
The full text is available here.
Background
Mississippi's initiative process was invalidated following a court ruling invalidated Initiative 65, a medical marijuana amendment in 2020. The 1992 constitutional amendment that granted the power of citizen initiative in Mississippi required signatures to be collected evenly from all five congressional districts that existed at the time. It mandated no more than one-fifth of the required signatures could be collected from any single congressional district. During 2001 redistricting after the 2000 census, however, the number of congressional districts in the state was reduced to four.
On October 26, 2020, the City of Madison, Mississippi, filed a lawsuit against Initiative 65 in the Mississippi Supreme Court asking the court to invalidate the measure and not count any votes cast on it at the November 3, 2020, election. The city of Madison and Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler alleged that the Secretary of State unlawfully certified the measure in violation of Section 273 of Article 15 of the Mississippi Constitution. Section 273 states "The signatures of the qualified electors from any congressional district shall not exceed one-fifth ( 1/5 ) of the total number of signatures required to qualify an initiative petition for placement upon the ballot." Plaintiffs alleged "Because Mississippi has four congressional districts, it is a mathematical certainty that the number of signatures submitted in support of Initiative Measure No. 65 from at least one of the four congressional districts exceeds 1/5 of the total number required. Twenty percent (20%) from each congressional district equals eighty percent (80%) total; to reach one hundred percent (100%), the number from at least one district must exceed twenty percent (20%). The Mississippi Legislature is aware of this mathematical impossibility ... Despite the Legislature's failure to propose an amendment to the voters, the Secretary of State nonetheless has followed an 'amended' Section 273(3) and has inserted 'the last five-district congressional district plan' into the text of the Constitution.'"
State attorneys filed arguments on December 28, 2020, arguing that legislators never updated state laws to reflect four congressional districts instead of five and that "As a result, four congressional districts exist in Mississippi under a federal injunction for congressional elections, but five congressional districts exist under state law and may be used for anything but congressional elections." In 2009, the Mississippi attorney general’s office issued a legal opinion stating that initiative sponsors need to collect signatures from the five congressional districts used in the 1990s.[2]
On May 14, 2021, the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned Initiative 65, the 2020 medical marijuana initiative. The ruling stated that the initiative petition did not comply with the signature distribution requirements in the Mississippi Constitution and that it is impossible for any petition to meet the requirements and has been impossible since congressional reapportionment in 2001.
The six justices wrote, "... Whether with intent, by oversight, or for some other reason, the drafters of [the constitutional signature distribution requirement] wrote a ballot initiative process that cannot work in a world where Mississippi has fewer than five representatives in Congress. To work in today’s reality, it will need amending—something that lies beyond the power of the Supreme Court."[3]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Amending the Mississippi Constitution
In Mississippi, for a legislatively referred constitutional amendment to be certified for the ballot, two-thirds of each house of the Mississippi State Legislature must vote to put it there. The absolute number of those voting in favor must be equal to at least a majority of the members elected to each house.
This amendment was introduced as House Concurrent Resolution 39 on January 17, 2022. The measure was passed in the House on February 8, 2022, in a vote of 92-26, with two members absent or not voting and two members voting present. The measure was passed in an amended form by the Senate on March 8, 2022, in a vote of 52-0. The amended bill requires approval in the House. On March 14, 2022, the House declined to concur with the Senate's amendments. On March 29, 2022, the House and Senate passed a resolution to suspend the deadlines concerning the amendment in order to continue debating it. Rep. Fred Shanks (R) said, "This is sort of a last ditch effort to try and get this settled." Rep. Jerry Turner (R) said, "We just about won't be able to go home unless we get that sorted out."[4][5]
The bill was not passed before the state legislature adjourned the 2022 legislative session on April 5, 2022.
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See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Mississippi State Legislature, "House Concurrent Resolution 39," accessed February 10, 2022
- ↑ The North Platte Telegraph, "Mississippi defends initiatives in medical marijuana lawsuit," accessed December 28, 2020
- ↑ Mississippi Supreme Court, "IN RE INITIATIVE MEASURE NO. 65: MAYOR MARY HAWKINS BUTLER v MICHAEL WATSON, IN HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY AS SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI," accessed May 14, 2021
- ↑ Mississippi Legislature, "House Concurrent Resolution 39," accessed February 10, 2022
- ↑ Yahoo News, "Lawmakers revive initiative legislation by using parliamentary quirk," accessed March 31, 2022
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