Montana Increased Signatures for Initiated State Statutes Amendment (2022)
| Montana Increased Signatures for Initiated State Statutes Amendment | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 8, 2022 | |
| Topic Direct democracy measures | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin State legislature |
The Montana Increased Signatures for Initiated State Statutes Amendment was not on the ballot in Montana as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 8, 2022.[1]
The amendment would have amended the Montana Constitution to require initiative petitions seeking to enact or amend state statute to collect signatures from 10% of the qualified electors in each of three-fifths of the legislative districts, and the total number of signers would also have been at least 10% of the total qualified electors of the state.[2]
Text of measure
Ballot question
The ballot question would have been as follows:[2]
| “ | An act submitting to the qualified electors of Montana an amendment to Article III, section 4, of the Montana Constitution to increase the number of qualified electors required to sign an initiative petition for a statutory amendment; and providing an effective date.
[ ] YES on Constitutional Amendment [ ] NO on Constitutional Amendment[3] |
” |
Constitutional changes
- See also: Article III, Montana Constitution
The measure would have amended section 4 of Article III of the state constitution. The following underlined text would have been added, and struck-through text would have been deleted:[2]
Text of Section 4:
Initiative
(1) The people may enact laws by initiative on all matters except appropriations of money and local or special laws.
(2) Initiative petitions must contain the full text of the proposed measure, shall be signed by at least five ten percent of the qualified electors in each of at least one-third three-fifths of the legislative representative districts and the total number of signers must be at least five ten percent of the total qualified electors of the state. Petitions shall be filed with the secretary of state at least three months prior to the election at which the measure will be voted upon.
(3) The sufficiency of the initiative petition shall not be questioned after the election is held.[3]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Amending the Montana Constitution
To put a legislatively referred constitutional amendment before voters, a two-thirds (66.67%) vote is required in both the Montana State Senate and the Montana House of Representatives.
House Bill 384 (HB 384) was introduced on February 11, 2021, by Rep. Steve Gunderson (R). The state House approved the bill on March 19, 2021, in a vote of 66-33 with one excused. The amendment did not receive a vote by the state Senate by the time the legislature adjourned on April 29, 2021.[1]
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See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Montana State Legislature, "Overview of HB 384," accessed March 22, 2021
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Montana State Legislature, "Text of HB 384" accessed March 22, 2021
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Since Montana requires a two-thirds (66.67%) vote of all members of the legislature taken together, as long as there are enough yes votes in the first chamber to make passage possible (i.e., 50 in the House and 0 in the Senate), the proposal moves to the next chamber. However, a vote of less than a two-thirds majority in the first chamber requires a vote of more than two-thirds in the second chamber.
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State of Montana Helena (capital) |
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