Future of Mississippi ballot initiative in hands of Senate Chairman Polk

House Speaker Fred Shanks said, based on conversations he’s had with Senate leaders, that he expects the Senate to pass legislation to revitalize Mississippi’s initiative process, allowing voters to bypass the legislature and put issues on the ballot.

Because he believes Senate leaders will move the bill forward, Shanks, R-Brandon, said he has no plans to pass a House proposal before Tuesday’s deadline. A bill fell through last year when leaders of the House and Senate couldn’t agree on details. Tuesday is the deadline for passing general bills and constitutional resolutions outside of committee in the chamber in which they originated.

A constitutional resolution to amend the state constitution is required to revive the initiative process. Constitutional decisions require a two-thirds majority from both houses to pass the legislature. Then the decision must be accepted by the voters.

After discussions with Senate leaders, Shanks said he believes the Senate will pass a resolution outside of committee before Tuesday. If this resolution passes the Senate, it will go to the House of Representatives for consideration.

“We’re optimistic that we can accomplish something this year,” Shanks said.

While Shanks may be confident that the Senate committee will issue a resolution to revive the initiative process by Tuesday’s deadline, Senate Committee Chairman John Polk, R-Hattiesburg, has not made that commitment public. Lt. gov. Delbert Hosemann has referred the resolutions to revitalize the initiative process to the Accountability and Efficiency and Transparency Committee, chaired by Polk, in place of the Constitutional Committee, chaired by Chris Johnson, R-Hattiesburg.

Polk has repeatedly said several proposals have been tabled by senators to revitalize the initiative process and that he will make a decision on what to do with those resolutions before Tuesday’s deadline. He recently said he expects his committee meeting twice on Tuesday.

The initiative process was halted in 2021 when the November 2020 voter-approved medical marijuana initiative was invalidated by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled that the process was unconstitutional because signatures had to be collected equally from five congressional districts that existed in 1990, even though the state lost one congressional seat after the 2000 census.

The Mississippi Superior Court lawsuit marked the first time in modern times that the judiciary in a state had thrown down an entire initiative process, according to Caroline Avakian, director of strategic communications for the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, a national, pro-initiative nonprofit .

The only time in modern times that landmark decision by the Supreme Court isn’t the only time a voting process has been invalidated by the judiciary. In the 1920s, the Mississippi Supreme Court struck down an earlier initiative, sanctioned by state voters. After this judgment from the 1920s, it was only restored in the early 1990s.

In the 2022 session, the House and Senate failed to agree on the number of registered voter signatures that should be required to put an issue on the ballot. The House wanted the number of signatures to be the same as the proposal rejected by the Supreme Court — 12% of the total for the last gubernatorial election, or about 100,000 signatures. Polk and Hosemann wanted to more than double the required signatures.

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from Bobby Harrison, Mississippi today
January 27, 2023

<h1>The Mississippi future ballot initiative in the hands of Senate Chairman Polk</h1> by Bobby Harrison, Mississippi Today January 27, 2023 House Constitutional Speaker Fred Shanks said, based on conversations he’s had with Senate leaders, that he expects the Senate to pass legislation to revitalize Mississippi’s initiative process, allowing voters to bypass the legislature and raise issues related to the legislature to vote. Because he believes Senate leaders will push the bill initiative forward, Shanks, R-Brandon, said he has no plans to pass a House proposal before Tuesday’s deadline. A bill fell through last year when leaders of the House and Senate couldn’t agree on details. Tuesday is the deadline for general bills and constitutional decisions to be passed by the committee in the chamber in which they originated. A constitutional resolution to amend the state constitution is required to revive the initiative process. Constitutional decisions require a two-thirds majority from both houses to pass the legislature. Then the resolution has to be approved by the electorate. After discussions with Senate leaders, Shanks said he believes the Senate will pass a resolution outside of committee before Tuesday. If this resolution passes the Senate, it will go to the House of Representatives. “We’re optimistic that we can accomplish something this year,” Shanks said. While Shanks may be confident that the Senate committee will issue a resolution to revive the initiative process by Tuesday’s deadline, Senate committee chairman John Polk, R-Hattiesburg, has not made that commitment public. Lt. gov. Delbert Hosemann has referred the resolutions to revitalize the initiative process to the Accountability, Efficiency and Transparency Committee, chaired by Polk, rather than the Constitutional Committee, chaired by Chris Johnson, R-Hattiesburg. Polk has repeatedly said that several proposals have been tabled by senators to revive the initiative process and that he will make a decision on what to do with those resolutions before Tuesday’s deadline. He recently said he expects his committee meeting twice on Tuesday. The initiative process was crushed in 2021 when the medical marijuana initiative, approved by voters in November 2020, was invalidated by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled that the process was unconstitutional because signatures had to be collected equally from five congressional districts that existed in 1990, even though the state lost one congressional seat after the 2000 census, The Mississippi Supreme Court action marked the first time in modern times that a state’s judiciary has struck down an entire initiative process, according to Caroline Avakian, director of strategic communications for the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, a national initiative nonprofit. While the only time in modern times the landmark decision of the Supreme Court was not the only time an electoral process was declared invalid by the judiciary. In the 1920s, the Mississippi Supreme Court struck down an earlier initiative, sanctioned by state voters. After this judgment from the 1920s, it was not restored until the early 1990s. In the 2022 session, the House and Senate failed to agree on the number of registered voter signatures that should be required to place an issue of the ballots. The House wanted the number of signatures to be the same as the proposal rejected by the Supreme Court — 12% of the total for the last gubernatorial election, or about 100,000 signatures. Polk and Hosemann wanted to more than double the required signatures. This <a target="_blank" href="https://mississippitoday.org/2023/01/27/mississippi-ballot-initiative/" rel="noopener">Article</a> appeared first <a target="_blank" href="//mississippitoday.org“" rel="noopener">Mississippi Today</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img data-lazyloaded="1" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODdhAQABAPAAAMPDwwAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" decoding="async" data-src="https://i0.wp.com/mississippitoday.org/wp-content/uploads /2021/01/MT_square-thumb.jpg?fit=150%2C150&ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img data-lazyloaded="1" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODdhAQABAPAAAMPDwwAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=" decoding="async" id="republication-tracker-tool -source" data-src="https://mississippitoday.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=1089464&ga=UA-75003810-1" style="width:1px;height:1px;">