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State Ballot Measure Monthly: January 2022
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By Ballot Measures Project staff
This edition of the State Ballot Measure Monthly covers the certifications of 2022 ballot measures and a selection of notable ballot measure news from Dec. 15, 2021, through Jan. 20, 2022.
Sixty-four statewide measures have been certified for the 2022 ballot in 30 states so far. One new statewide measure was certified for the ballot in South Dakota since Dec. 15.
Signatures have been submitted and are pending verification for four additional initiatives in Alaska, Florida, and Ohio:
- Alaska State Recognition of American Indian Tribes Initiative (2022)
- Florida Sports Betting Initiative (2022)
- Florida Casino Gaming Expansion Initiative (2022)
- Ohio Marijuana Legalization Initiative (2022)
Enough signatures were verified for three initiatives in Massachusetts to certify them to the legislature. If the legislature doesn’t enact them, proponents will need to gather a second round of signatures.
- Massachusetts Question 2, Medical Loss Ratios for Dental Insurance Plans Initiative (2022)
- Massachusetts Question 3, Changes to Alcohol Retail Licensing Initiative (2022)
- Massachusetts App-Based Drivers as Contractors and Labor Policies Initiative (2022)
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Number of certifications in past years
Even-numbered years:
- An average of 56 measures were certified for even-year ballots by this point from 2010 through 2020.
- An average of 165 statewide measures were eventually certified for even-year ballots from 2010 through 2020.
2022 certifications
- See also: Ballotpedia's Tuesday Count for 2022
From Dec. 15 through Jan. 21, one statewide measure was certified for the 2022 ballot in South Dakota.
Jan. 3:
- South Dakota Constitutional Amendment D, Medicaid Expansion Initiative (2022) - This initiative would amend the constitution to require the state to provide Medicaid benefits to adults between 18 and 65 with incomes below 133% of the federal poverty level. Because the Affordable Care Act includes a 5% income disregard, this measure would effectively expand Medicaid to those with incomes at or below 138% of the federal poverty level.
- To date, 38 states and Washington, D.C., have expanded Medicaid (six through ballot measures) while 12 states had not expanded Medicaid. Of the seven Medicaid expansion measures, six were approved (Maine, Utah, Nebraska, Idaho, Oklahoma, and Missouri) and one (Montana) was defeated. The Montana measure combined Medicaid expansion with a tobacco tax increase.
- Constitutional Amendment C will appear on the South Dakota June 7 primary election ballot. The amendment, which was referred to the ballot by the state legislature, would require a three-fifths vote (60%) to approve any ballot measures that would increase taxes or fees or that would require the state to appropriate $10 million or more in the first five fiscal years. If Amendment C is approved by voters in June, Amendment D on the November ballot will need to be approved by 60% of voters. Currently, ballot measures in South Dakota required a simple majority vote (50%+1) to be adopted.
Austin voters will decide an initiative to decriminalize marijuana and prohibit no-knock warrants on May 7
The city council voted 7-3 on Jan. 18 to send an initiative to decriminalize marijuana and prohibit no-knock warrants to the May 7 ballot. Proponents of the initiative submitted enough signatures to require the city council to either enact the measure outright or put it on the ballot.
On Jan. 10, the Austin City Clerk announced that an initiative to decriminalize marijuana and prohibit no-knock warrants had qualified for the ballot. Proponents submitted over 20,000 valid signatures meeting the required number to appear on the local ballot. The clerk used a random sampling method of 25% of signatures submitted or 8,334 raw signatures to determine the signature validity of the petition. The signature validity rate according to the random sampling was 70.5%.
The campaign, Ground Game Texas, announced they had collected nearly 35,000 signatures in November 2021. Mike Siegel, political director of Ground Game Texas, said, “With the certification of the Austin Freedom Act, voters in Austin will soon have the ability to use their vote to end the criminalization of cannabis in their community and eliminate the dangerous practice of no-knock warrants by Austin police.”
Chapter 1 of the proposed initiative would prohibit Austin police from issuing any citations or making any arrests for misdemeanor marijuana possession offenses, so long as the offenses are not involved in the investigation of a narcotics-related case designated as a high priority or a violent felony case. Austin police officers would be able to seize marijuana if they have probable cause to believe that an individual possesses it, but they must write up a full report and are not permitted to detain the individual if marijuana possession is the sole charge. The initiative would also prohibit police officers from issuing citations for possessions of drug residue or paraphernalia.
Chapter 2 of the proposed initiative would prohibit Austin police from requesting, executing, or participating in a no-knock search warrant. The initiative would define a no-knock search warrant as "any search warrant that does not require the officer to knock and announce their presence and wait at least 15 seconds prior to execution."
Since 2020, Ballotpedia has tracked 32 notable local police-related ballot measures. In 2020, voters approved 20 local police-related ballot measures in 10 cities and four counties within seven states. Two were overturned after the election. In 2021, voters approved seven of 12 local police-related ballot measures in 10 cities and one county within nine states. Among the approved measures was a ban on no-knock warrants in Pittsburgh that was approved with 81.16% of the vote.
See also
- 2022 ballot measures
- List of ballot measures by state
- List of ballot measures by year
- Ballot initiatives filed for the 2022 ballot
- Ballot Measure Scorecard, 2022
- Ballotpedia's Tuesday Count for 2022
Related articles
Footnotes
- ↑ The numbers in the second column indicate how many ballot measures were certified for the ballot in the last month; for example a "+3" means that three measures were certified in the last month.
- ↑ This number includes citizen-initiated measures, legislative referrals, and an automatically referred measure.
- ↑ This was current as of January 1, 2022.
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