The Tap: Friday, June 17, 2016

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The Tap covered election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events from February 2016 to February 2022.

Review of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #21 of The Tap, which was published on June 18, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

State

• Montana initiative signature deadline: Competing marijuana-related measures could be on the November ballot. Initiative 116, the Crime Victims Rights Initiative, is currently the only measure certified for the ballot in Montana, but nine other measures were cleared for signature gathering and could reach the ballot if petitioners submitted sufficient petitions by the deadline.
  • Supporters of Initiative 182, the Montana Medical Marijuana Initiative, reported that they collected more than 40,000 signatures. Earlier this month, supporters for Initiative 176, the Montana Drug Prohibition Initiative, reported that they had submitted 30,000 signatures. These two marijuana-related measures would compete with each other if they both reached the ballot: I-182 seeks to expand the medical marijuana program in the state, and I-176 was designed to eliminate the state’s medical marijuana program entirely by banning any drug that is illegal according to federal law. These two initiatives were designed to amend state statutes, not the state constitution, so they need 24,175 valid signatures distributed from 34 legislative districts in order to qualify for the ballot. Constitutional initiatives require twice as many valid signatures distributed from among 50 legislative districts.
  • Proponents behind an effort to legalize recreational marijuana, I-178, announced that their campaign fell about 10,000 signatures short of the requirement.
  • Moreover, according to the secretary of state’s website, petitioners behind another statutory initiative, the Animal Trap Restrictions Initiative (I-177), had already submitted at least 15,171 signatures.
  • In Montana, petitioners must submit signatures directly to county officials, who are responsible for preliminary verification before passing the petition sheets on to the secretary of state. Thus, the status of some initiatives could remain unknown for some time.
• The New York State Legislature adjourned its regular session. New York is one of 20 states under divided government. Democrats control the Assembly by 60 seats (with two vacancies) and the governor’s office. The Senate’s partisan balance currently stands at 32 Democrats and 31 Republicans. Even though Democrats hold a numerical advantage in all three areas of the state government, a coalition between Republicans and the five members of the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) will keep Republicans in control of the Senate. In addition, Sen. Simcha Felder (D) has caucused with Republicans since he was first elected in 2013. The state Senate has been included in Ballotpedia’s 20 battleground chambers to watch in 2016.
• The New York State Legislature adjourned without approving any referred measures for the ballot in November. A majority vote is required in two successive legislative sessions to qualify a measure for the ballot in New York. Among the potential measures were the Initiative and Referendum Amendment, which would have provided for an initiative and referendum process, and the Age to Vote in Presidential Primary Amendment, which would have allowed a person who will be 18 years old at the time of a presidential election to vote in the primary election.

Preview of the day

There were no items for this day in issue #20 of The Tap, which was published on June 11, 2016. See the "Review of the day" tab for more information.