Author: Victoria Antram
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Petitioners of opposing forest initiatives in Oregon sign agreement to work together on regulation
On Monday, petitioners of opposing ballot initiatives designed to change forest regulations in Oregon announced that they had signed an agreement to work together via the legislature rather than the initiative process. Twenty-six groups signed the cooperative memorandum. One side of the debate included groups like Oregon Wild, the Audubon Society of Portland, and the…
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Abortion right amendment defeated in the Kansas House of Representatives Friday
On Friday, the Kansas House of Representatives did not approve the No Right to Abortion in Constitution Amendment by the two-thirds supermajority required to place the measure on the primary ballot in August. The number of “yes” votes required was 84. The final vote was 80-43. The amendment would have added a new section to…
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Abortion right amendment approved by Kansas Senate introduced in the state House
The Kansas Senate voted on Wednesday to approve the No Right to Abortion in Constitution Amendment (Senate Concurrent Resolution 1613), with a 28 to 12 margin. This is one vote above the two-thirds requirement needed in both chambers to move the amendment to the ballot. All Senate Republicans, except for Representative John Skubal from District…
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Wisconsin Marsy’s Law Amendment received over $500,000 from the national organization, Marsy’s Law for All
In its January campaign finance filing, Marsy’s Law for Wisconsin, which is leading the campaign in support of Wisconsin Marsy’s Law Crime Victims Rights Amendment, reported receiving over $500,000 in loans from Marsy’s Law for All, the national foundation that has funded 12 statewide Marsy’s Law ballot measure campaigns. It was founded in 2009 by…
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The signature deadline for Ohio indirect initiated state statutes was Friday
No initiative campaigns submitted signatures in Ohio on Friday’s deadline. In Ohio, initiated statutes begin as indirect initiatives, requiring 132,887 signatures in 2020 to go before the Ohio State Legislature. If enough signatures are submitted, the legislature has the option to approve an initiative without a vote of electors. If the state legislature does not…
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Massachusetts income tax rate decrease takes effect on January 1
In the general election of 2000, Massachusetts voters approved Question 4 with 59 percent of the vote. The initiative enacted a law that would lower the state’s personal income tax from 5.9% in 2000 to 5% by 2003. In 2002, the Massachusetts General Court passed House No. H.5250, which replaced the schedule adopted by Question…
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State signature deadline for Massachusetts 2020 initiatives was Wednesday
The Massachusetts secretary of state reported receiving signatures from eight initiative campaigns on Wednesday, December 4. Wednesday was the deadline for 2020 ballot measure sponsors to submit signatures to state officials. November 20 was the preliminary deadline to submit signatures for verification to local registrars before submitting them to the secretary of state. The number…
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Wednesday was a signature deadline for 2020 Massachusetts ballot initiatives
Ballot initiative campaigns hoping to land a spot on the 2020 Massachusetts ballot had to submit 80,239 signatures to local registrars by Wednesday, November 20. After signatures are verified by local authorities, petitioners must submit those signatures to the secretary of the commonwealth by December 4. On September 4, the attorney general cleared 10…
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Colorado local ballot measure election recap
Ballotpedia covered eight local measures in Denver, Colorado Springs, Arapahoe County, and Douglas County on Nov. 5. Six were approved, one was defeated, and one has not been called. Approval of Douglas County Ballot Issue 1A was ahead as of Nov. 14 with a margin of 52.27% to 47.73%. Because of mail-in ballots, this…
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California local ballot measure election recap
According to unofficial election results, voters in local jurisdictions in 13 different California counties approved 35 local ballot measures and defeated eight measures on November 5, 2019. Two measures are too close to call with certainty. San Francisco Proposition D and Redwood City School District Proposition H are tax measures that require a two-thirds…