The Arkansas Senate on Friday handily rejected referring to voters a proposed constitutional amendment that would make it more difficult for citizens to qualify a proposed amendment for the ballot, for lawmakers to refer a proposal to voters and for voters to approve an amendment.
Without any debate, the Senate voted 9-21 on House Joint Resolution 1003 by House Speaker Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia. The Senate later expunged the vote to clear the way for another possible vote. Eighteen votes are required for approval of the resolution in the 35-member Senate.
Gillam said he's not planning on lobbying for the measure over the weekend.
"With the vote count, what was relayed to me, there doesn't seem to be the appetite for it," he said afterward.
"If it doesn't get passed this year, obviously the House and the Senate, we can look at it over the summer and next year and when they come back next general session [in 2019], the bodies can choose to take it up at that time if they want to," Gillam said.
Senate Democratic leader Keith Ingram of West Memphis said he doesn't disagree with Gillam's proposal to make it more difficult for a proposed constitutional amendment to be adopted, but he added that the hurdle might be "just too high" under the proposal.
"Obviously, there is a lot of us that have concerns watching these big-money operations come in from out of state and pay canvassers" to gather signatures to qualify their proposed amendments for the ballot, he said.
"That's a new phenomenon in the last four to six years," Ingram said. "I think it deserves, no question, a look-see to try to find that sweet spot between being fair to groups that are volunteers versus folks that have that monetary issue."
The Senate's vote on HJR1003 came three days after the proposal cleared the eight-member Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee by having five committee members sign a report recommending its approval. The proposal had failed to clear the committee earlier Tuesday.
The Legislature already has voted to refer to voters in the 2018 general election a proposed constitutional amendment that would limit certain damages in civil lawsuits and attorney's contingency fees and allow the Legislature to rewrite the state Supreme Court's rules, and a proposed amendment that would require the Legislature to enact a law mandating that voters present photo ID for their votes to count.
Under HJR1003, any future constitutional amendment beyond the 2018 general election would require approval by 60 percent of voters rather than a simple majority.
The proposed amendment also would add to the requirements for petitioners working to get initiated amendments on the ballot. Petitioners would have to gather signatures from at least 25 counties, instead of the current 15.
Also under the proposal, lawmakers would face a higher threshold for getting their proposed amendments on the ballot. Both chambers would have to approve a proposed amendment by a two-thirds majority, rather than the current simple majority. Petitions for any statewide ballot measure would have to be submitted 180 days before an election, instead of four months before an election.
Since 1874, 98 amendments have been added to the state constitution.
The four most recent amendments, adopted in November, included a voter-referred amendment to legalize medical marijuana. That proposal was approved with 53 percent of the vote.
Information for this article was contributed by Brian Fanney of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
A Section on 04/01/2017