History of Initiative & Referendum in Alaska

The History of Initiative & Referendum in Alaska began in 1959 when it became the 20th, and last, state to adopt a statewide initiative process. However, the procedure does not include the right to make appropriations or amend the state constitution.

The right of initiative process is spelled out in Article XI of the state constitution under, "The people may propose and enact laws by the initiative, and approve or reject acts of the legislature by referendum."

Since it's enactment 42 citizen initiated amendments and statutes have appears on the ballot, 22 of which have passed.

Moving the state capital

Citizens have attempted to relocate the capital from Juneau to Anchorage 5 times through the initiative process. In 1974 voters approved an initiative to relocate the state capitol. Without an appropriation, this decision could be implemented only if the legislature acted. Since the legislature failed to respond, voters passed another initiative in 1978, this time requiring the state government to determine the cost of relocation and stipulating that any bond issue to finance that cost be subject to voter approval. The bond issue went to the voters in 1980, but they rejected it, with the result that Juneau is still the state capital, despite its great distance from the major population center, Anchorage.

Unicameral legislature initiative

In 1976 Alaskans passed an initiative to abolish one house of their legislature and create a unicameral lawmaking body like Nebraska’s. Unfortunately, a constitutional amendment was needed to accomplish this change, and Alaska’s initiative procedure does not allow amendments. Members of the legislature, not wishing to abolish their jobs, predictably ignored the measure.

Abolishing the state income tax

The Alaskan legislature did pay heed, however, to an initiative sponsored by the Libertarian Party to abolish the state personal income tax. The initiative qualified for the November 1980 ballot but was so popular that it was enacted by the legislature on September 25 of that year, thus making a popular vote unnecessary.

Legislative support of the I&R process

In 1997 the Alaska elections devision posted an article on its website that took a decidedly negative viewpoint on the initiative process, listing an array of reasons that people can not be trusted to enact legislation, even while citing there has been no evidence in that effect. The report takes care to call the direct democracy a "buyer beware" system and quoting John Jacobs' opinion that many initiatives are special interests masquerading as the people.

Then in 2004 the House of Representatives passed legislation which took steps to complicate the initiative process by requiring a "wider range" of voters be involved in the process. It required for signatures to be obtained from residents in at least three-quarters of the House Districts in Alaska. Additionally, the signatures gathered in each district must equal at least seven percent of the number of people who voted in the most recent general election.

"I've been working on getting this kind of an amendment passed for more than six years. The initiative process has not been working the way the framers of our constitution intended it to do. Alaska must not fall prey to the kind of ballot-box lawmaking that has hamstrung governments in places like California and Oregon," said Rep. Bill Williams, who proposed the legislation.

Acknowledgments

This article is significantly based on an article published by the Initiative & Referendum Institute, and is used with their permission. Their article, in turn, relies on research in David Schmidt's book, Citizen Lawmakers: The Ballot Initiative Revolution.<ref>Citizen Lawmakers: The Ballot Initiative Revolution Temple University Press, 352 pp., ISBN-10: 0877229031, October 1991

External links

• League of Women Voters stance of Alaska's I&R process