September 2002 State Legislatures Magazine: Letting the Voters Decide

State Legislatures Magazine: September 2002

Editor's Note: This article appeared in the September 2002 issue of NCSL's magazine, State Legislatures. To order copies or to subscribe, contact the marketing department at (303) 364-7700.

Letting the Voters Decide

Initiatives and referendums around the country will give voters plenty to think about this November.

By Jennifer Drage Bowser
It's still too early to say definitively what will be on the ballot this fall in the 24 initiative states, but at least 28 initiative measures had qualified at press time, as well as more than 80 measures referred to the ballot by legislatures. Many more measures are still circulating or pending certification.

Election reform is probably the most common issue voters will face in November. They'll have to decide not only on altering election procedures, but also campaign finance, term limits and changing the initiative process itself. The people will have their say on a host of other issues-health care, taxes, drug policy, transportation, criminal justice, labor and employment, and environment and natural resources.

Alaskans were to consider a measure in their Aug. 27 primary that would establish preferential voting (also called instant run-off voting) for legislative, presidential and congressional races. Instant run-off is used in some local elections, but is not currently used at the state level in the United States.

California voters will decide on allowing voter registrations on Election Day. Already practiced in six states, same-day registration is believed by many to be the single most effective reform when it comes to increasing voter turnout.

An unusual Washington initiative would require candidates for most public offices to take the assessment test that the state administers to all 10th graders. Test results would be published in the voter information pamphlet.

In several states, legislatures have referred election issues to the ballot. In New Mexico, voters will consider restoring the right to vote to felons who have satisfied the conditions of their sentence. A Wyoming proposal is a direct response to what happened in Florida in 2000-it would permit the Legislature to call a special session to resolve a dispute or challenge to determine the presidential electors. And an Arkansas proposal would repeal the requirement that ballots be traceable to the voter, thus awarding residents the right to a secret vote.

Voters in at least three states will consider changes to how their state's initiative process works. In Florida, voters will consider a constitutional amendment referred by the Legislature that would require economic impact statements for all initiatives that qualify for the ballot. Twelve of the 24 initiative states have similar requirements.

The Montana Legislature wants voters to decide if the signature requirements to qualify an initiative should be increased. Oklahoma lawmakers are asking if a new, higher signature threshold should apply to initiatives that relate to wildlife. Restricting the use of the initiative process for wildlife measures has become a trend. In 2000, Alaska and Arizona voters said no to referendums that would have curtailed wildlife initiatives. Utah voters decided they wanted such a measure in 1998. A circulating measure in Oregon would ban payment per signature for initiative circulators.

The term limits movement is clearly running out of steam. Although three states will consider the issue, two of them (Colorado and Missouri) would loosen limits.

The only measure still alive that would impose limits on legislators is in Idaho where lawmakers repealed them earlier this year. Idaho's term limits, passed by voters in 1994, were in statute, so the Legislature was able to abolish them without a popular vote. Now, however, a popular referendum has qualified for the November ballot that gives voters a chance to override the Legislature's action and re-impose limits.

Oregon narrowly missed a chaotic situation when a term limits initiative failed to qualify for the ballot. After the state's Supreme Court struck down a term limits law earlier this year, proponents began circulating a measure to re-establish the limits on members of the legislature. It would have made them retroactive. If it had qualified and passed, some legislators would have been turned out of office on the day they were re-elected. The measure failed to garner enough valid signatures to qualify.

Tax limitations, along with term limits, were the darlings of the initiative movement throughout the 1990s and into 2000. Term limits may have faded recently, but don't count out taxes. The most severe measure is in Massachusetts, where Question 1 would eliminate state personal income taxes on July 1, 2003.

Voters in five states will have their say on education measures. The big one is certainly Proposition 49, a California measure sponsored by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, which would increase state grants for before- and after-school programs. The Legislative Analyst's office says the measure could cost more than $400 million a year.

Florida voters will decide on an initiative to prohibit workplace smoking this November, and Arizona's Proposition 303 would increase tobacco taxes and direct the revenues to various health care programs. Measures in Oregon and Washington would create state-funded health insurance plans. Several measures that would require spending tobacco settlement funds on health care are circulating in Missouri, as well as a proposal to increase cigarette taxes to fund health care programs. Montanans will also vote on using tobacco settlement funds for tobacco prevention and health care.

Advocates of liberalizing drug laws have expanded their horizons beyond medical marijuana. Measures that would soften drug-related convictions and mandate treatment instead of incarceration for non-violent drug offenders are circulating in Arizona, Missouri, Ohio and Washington. The most sweeping measure is on the Nevada ballot. It would legalize the possession of up to three ounces of marijuana by anyone over 21.

Voters in Arizona, Florida, Indiana and South Dakota will be deciding on measures that range from bailable offenses to the death penalty to criminal appeals to defendants' rights.

Many more issues will be decided: increasing gas taxes to fund transportation in Missouri and Washington; requiring that vehicle fuel taxes, vehicle licensing fees, fares, tolls and voter-approved taxes be spent for roads, bridges and mass transit systems in the county where they are collected (Washington); permitting collective bargaining by emergency personnel (Missouri); paycheck protections and increasing the minimum wage (Oregon); and a right-to-work guarantee and new rates for unemployment insurance (Washington).

Alaska voters will consider an initiative creating a natural gas pipeline and a state authority to develop and manage it. Montanans will decide if the state should acquire and operate hydroelectric dams. Utah is looking at restricting radioactive waste and protecting open space.

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