Author: Jackie Mitchell
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Alabama voters to decide whether to change education board from elected to appointed on March 3
Voters in Alabama will decide Amendment 1 on March 3. The constitutional amendment would rename the State Board of Education as the Alabama Commission on Elementary and Secondary Education. The amendment would change the board from being elected by voters to being appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. Under the amendment, the…
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Utah initiative signature deadline passed on February 18
The deadline for submitting signatures for a direct initiative to qualify for the 2020 ballot in Utah passed on February 18, 2020. The deadline for indirect initiatives was November 15, 2019. Proponents of a carbon tax measure and a term limits measure had been circulating petitions. Neither group reached the signature requirement to qualify for…
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Deadline for Florida 2020 ballot initiatives passes on February 1, 2020, with four measures qualifying
The signature deadline for citizen initiatives in Florida targeting the 2020 ballot passed on February 1. Since state law gives local elections officials 30 days to verify signatures, petitioners needed to submit signatures on or before January 2, 2020, to guarantee that an initiative would qualify for the ballot in 2020. The signature requirement for…
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Florida voters to decide whether to require two elections for future constitutional amendments
Amendment 4 on the 2020 ballot will ask voters whether or not to require voter-approved constitutional amendments to be approved by voters at a second general election to become effective. Florida constitutional amendments currently require a 60% supermajority vote at one election to take effect. Under Amendment 4, the 60% supermajority requirement would apply to…
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Arkansas voters to decide whether or not to allow optometrists to perform certain eye surgeries
A veto referendum targeting Arkansas House Bill 1251 (Act 579) was certified for the ballot on January 31, 2020, following the resolution of a lawsuit concerning signature validity. Proponents submitted 64,028 valid signatures. To qualify for the ballot, 53,491 valid signatures were required. HB 1251 amended the definition of practice of optometry in state law…
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Utah referendum effort to repeal tax bill qualifies for the ballot; Utah Legislature votes to repeal it themselves
On January 28, 2020, a veto referendum targeting Utah Senate Bill 2001 qualified for the ballot. A veto referendum is a type of citizen-initiated ballot measure that asks voters whether to uphold or repeal a law passed by the state legislature. There are 23 states that have a process for veto referendums at the statewide…
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Utah legislature to repeal tax bill after signatures filed for veto referendum
Supporters of a veto referendum petition effort targeting the repeal of Utah Senate Bill 2001 reported submitting 152,000 signatures on January 21 to put the bill on the November ballot. SB 2001, titled Tax Restructuring Revisions, was designed to make changes to the state tax code including decreasing the individual and corporate income tax rates…
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New campaign finance reports in for 2020 Colorado ballot measures show support campaigns ahead in fundraising
New campaign finance reports for Colorado ballot measures, which covered information through December 31, 2019, show support campaigns had raised more money than opposition campaigns. So far, four measures are certified to appear on the November 2020 ballot in Colorado, including one legislatively referred bond issue, a veto referendum, and two citizen initiatives. No issue…
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Oklahoma will decide Medicaid expansion in 2020
Oklahoma voters will decide whether or not to expand Medicaid in November. State Question 802, which qualified for the ballot on January 9, would expand Medicaid in Oklahoma under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. It would provide Medicaid coverage for certain low-income adults between 18 and 65 with incomes below 133%…
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Mississippi to vote on medical marijuana in 2020
The Mississippi Medical Marijuana Amendment has officially qualified for the ballot and was filed with the Mississippi State Legislature on January 7, the first day of the 2020 legislative session. The legislature must act on the measure within four months. The measure will appear on the 2020 ballot regardless of whether the state legislature adopts,…