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Mississippi Initiative Process Amendment (2024)
| Mississippi Initiative Process Amendment | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 5, 2024 | |
| Topic Direct democracy measures | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin State legislature |
The Mississippi Initiative Process Amendment was not on the ballot in Mississippi as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 5, 2024.
Overview
What would this amendment have done?
- See also: Text of measure
This amendment would have created a new initiative and referendum process for citizens in Mississippi to initiate legislation. Under the amendment, residents could have repealed legislation via veto referendums and initiate state laws (but could not initiate constitutional amendments) by circulating petitions for up to 12 months and gathering signatures equal to 8% of the total number of qualified electors in the state as of the last gubernatorial election.[1]
Initiatives could not have addressedthe following topics:[1]
- abortion;
- the Mississippi Public Employees' Retirement System;
- local laws; or
- laws appropriating funds from the State Treasury.
Under the proposed process, if enough signatures were submitted and the initiative was certified by the Mississippi Secretary of State, the proposed law would have then been submitted to the Mississippi State Legislature, which could, by a simple majority vote, adopt the proposal or adopt an amended version of the proposal. If the initiative was adopted, amended, or rejected by the state legislature, or if the legislature took no action on the proposal within four months, the initiative (and any alternative proposed by the legislature) would be placed on the next statewide general election ballot. A maximum of three initiatives could be placed on a single ballot. The first three initiatives submitted to the secretary of state with sufficient signatures would qualify for ballot placement. To be approved, an initiative or legislative alternative would have needed to receive a majority of votes cast on the question and no less than 40% of the total votes cast at the election.[1]
Initiatives and any legislative alternatives would have been presented to voters such that the first question is on whether or not either measure should be adopted. If a majority of those voting on the first question voted against both proposals, then both measures would fail. If a majority of those voting on the first question is for either proposal, then the measure (the proposed initiative or the legislative alternative) with more than 50% of votes in favor (but no less than 40% of all votes cast at the election) would be approved. A person voting in favor of either measure would also need to vote for one of the measures for the vote to count. A person who votes for neither proposal could vote for one of the two measures, but would not be required to for their vote to count.[1]
Why did Mississippi need a new initiative process?
- See also: Background
Mississippi voters adopted a constitutional amendment in 1992 creating an initiative process that allowed residents to propose amendments to the state's constitution through initiative petition. 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.
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title for the amendment would have been as follows:[1]
| “ | This proposed constitutional amendment provides that the people reserve to themselves the right to exercise the legislative power of the state to propose new laws and to amend or repeal existing laws by initiative, and to approve or reject the same in an election independent of the Legislature.[2] | ” |
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.[3]
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."[4]
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 11 on January 24, 2023, and passed on the same day in a vote of 80-39, with three members not voting. Of House Democrats, 38 were opposed, one was in favor, and one did not vote. Of House Republicans, 78 voted in favor, one was opposed, and one did not vote. The amendment was not passed in the Senate before the legislature adjourned its 2024 session.[1]
