US EditionLawmakers seek to rein in citizen ballot initiatives with new requirements for petitions
- Lawmakers in about a dozen U.S. States passed roughly 40 bills in 2025 imposing new rules on citizen ballot initiatives, including Arkansas, Florida, and South Dakota.
- These laws respond to recent uses of initiatives for abortion rights and marijuana legalization and concerns about petition clarity, fraud, and outside influence.
- Key provisions require Arkansas initiative titles to be at eighth-grade reading level, South Dakota petition titles to use 14-point font, and Florida volunteers gathering over 25 signatures to register with felony penalties for noncompliance.
- Roughly 42% of 2,744 citizen initiatives in Oregon since 1904 have passed, while GOP lawmakers argue these bills protect state constitutions from manipulation; Florida’s new rules are challenged in court.
- These measures indicate a contracting initiative process in the U.S., reflecting lawmakers' desire to safeguard constitutional integrity and limit initiatives they see as threatening their authority.
70 Articles
70 Articles
With Legislature in final days lawmakers rush to finish budget, other required work
The state Legislature is in its final days before a required adjournment at midnight, May 21. Lawmakers in Juneau are racing to finish work on actions they’re required to do by law, including voting to confirm Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s nominations…
Associated Press News
Lawmakers seek to rein in citizen ballot initiatives with new requirements for petitions
Citizen activists could find it harder to get initiatives on next year's ballot in some states. Lawmakers in about a dozen states have advanced roughly 40 measures this year that would restrict or revamp the citizen initiative process.
New Ballot Initiatives Law Draws Challenge
TALLAHASSEE — Backers of a ballot proposal aimed at expanding Medicaid coverage in Florida quickly filed a lawsuit Sunday challenging a measure approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature that imposes additional hurdles on the citizen-initiative process, arguing it erects “unconstitutional barriers…
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