Category: Ballot measures

Colorado Springs voters will decide Issue 1 on April 2, 2019. Issue 1 is a citizen initiative designed to allow collective bargaining for city fire employees. If approved, Issue 1 would allow uniformed city fire employees, aside from the fire chief and the fire chief’s direct reports, to select and remove a bargaining representative. The…

Proponents of a citizen initiative designed to address Phoenix’s pension debt collected enough signatures to send the issue before voters. In January, the group Responsible Budgets submitted close to 50,000 petition signatures to the city clerk’s office for an initiative it titled the “Responsible Budget Act.” On March 6, 2019, the city clerk verified that…

On March 7, 2019, the Arkansas State Senate approved a proposed constitutional amendment that would make permanent a 0.5 percent sales tax. The tax was approved by voters in 2012 and set to expire in 2023 once certain transportation bond debt was repaid. As the state House approved the amendment on March 4, the Senate’s…

The Arkansas state legislature gave final approval to Senate Bill 346 and sent it to the governor on March 6, 2019. The bill was designed to do the following: make the state board of election commissioners, rather than the attorney general, responsible for approving a filed initiative and its ballot title and popular name; change…

The Utah State Legislature voted Wednesday to send the Gender-Neutral Constitutional Language Amendment to the ballot for the election on November 3, 2020.   The amendment was designed to remove gender-specific language in the state constitution and replace it with gender-neutral language. For example, it would make the following changes among others: “all men” to…

Across California, there were 10 local measures on the ballot on March 5, 2019, in eight local jurisdictions within Los Angeles County, El Dorado County, Fresno County, and Sonoma County.   Voters in West Hollywood approved Measure B by 61 percent, authorizing a London Arts Club development project. Measure B was put on the ballot…

Three measures concerning North Dakota’s initiative process have passed one chamber of the legislature. In North Dakota, a constitutional amendment needs to be passed by a simple majority vote in both chambers of the state legislature to be certified for the ballot. If passed by both chambers, these amendments would go before voters for their…

Tampa voters approved all 18 charter amendments on their ballots Tuesday.   The city’s charter had not been changed since 1975. The charter amendments were proposed by a Charter Review Commission and sent to the ballot by a vote of the city council. A number of the charter amendments proposed technical changes or changes that…

The Arizona State Senate approved a constitutional amendment on March 4, 2019, that would create the position of lieutenant governor. Arizona is one of five states that do not have a lieutenant governor. Approval in the state House would refer the constitutional amendment to the ballot for the election on November 3, 2020, for voter…

Between 1906 and 2018, 521 veto referendums appeared on the ballot in the 23 states that allow them. Voters repealed 340 (65.3 percent) of the targeted laws and upheld 181 (34.7 percent) of them.   A veto referendum is a type of citizen-initiated ballot measure that asks voters whether to uphold or repeal a law…