House, Senate see legislation limiting initiatives

BOISE — Two pieces of legislation aimed at putting limits on the voter initiative process were introduced in Idaho Senate and House committees.

Initiatives allow the voters to propose and enact laws independent of the Legislature.

The House bill would allow the governor to veto voter-approved initiatives that pass with less than a two-thirds majority.

The Senate joint resolution would propose to amend the Idaho Constitution to significantly raise the threshold of signatures needed for initiatives and referendums to appear on the ballot.

Sen. Doug Okuniewicz, R-Hayden, sponsored the Senate resolution and co-sponsored the House bill.

House bill: Governor veto power

Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, proposed the House bill that would give the governor veto power over initiatives.

Skaug said that it would be “good protection for a misinformed electorate if they don’t get the information like we get to have,” citing the recent November election that included out-of-state funding in support of Prop 1. The initiative that would have changed the state’s election system was defeated in the general election with nearly 70% voting against.

Rep. Todd Achilles, D-Boise, questioned the need for a change to the initiative process, given that only a handful have ever passed or even made it on the ballot.

“I think, overall, if the concern is about money in politics, I think that that’s a separate conversation,” Achilles said. “We did learn from the last (election) cycle, though, that clearly money in politics does not buy winning initiatives, so I’m very concerned that we’re putting even more hurdles in front of a citizen’s right, when we should just address money in politics.”

Under the bill, an initiative passed with more than two-thirds of the vote would not be able to be vetoed.

Skaug said the reasoning behind this was because the Legislature has the option to override a governor veto with a two-thirds majority vote of the body. A vetoed initiative would not have an override option under the bill.

The governor could decide to reject anything passed with less than around 66% of the vote within five days of the results being canvassed, which occurs within 30 days after the election. The governor could also choose to sign the initiative, or let it go into effect without a signature.

The House State Affairs Committee voted unanimously to introduce the bill, which allows it to come back for a full hearing.

Senate bill: Raise the signature threshold

Okuniewicz presented to the Senate State Affairs Committee a proposal to put the question to the voters whether to amend the state Constitution to raise the threshold of required signatures from 6% of registered voters in 18 of Idaho’s 35 districts to 6% of registered voters of every legislative district to have initiatives or referendums appear on the ballot.

A referendum allows voters to choose to repeal or retain laws passed by the Legislature.

Okuniewicz made the same proposal in 2023, with Senate Joint Resolution 101, which passed the Senate and narrowly failed in the House.

The Legislature also attempted to pass a law to make the same change this threshold in 2021, but the Idaho Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional because it would make it nearly impossible to put an initiative or referendum on the ballot.

The court wrote in the unanimous opinion that the legislation “constituted a grave infringement on the people’s constitutional rights.”

Okuniewicz’s resolution would propose a state constitutional amendment to the section allowing initiatives and referendums, which would require approval by the voters.

The committee on Wednesday voted to introduce the joint resolution, with only Sen. James Ruchti, D-Pocatello, voting against. There was no discussion by members of the committee.

The resolution will return to the committee for a full public hearing.

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.