Voter Initiative
Governor Almond placed an advisory question for Voter Initiative on the ballot in 1996. It was approved by 52% of the voters.
Each year since 1994, Senator Marc Cote has introduced Voter Initiative legislation. He also worked with the Voter Initiative Alliance (VIA) to improve this legislation to the point where in 1998, it was determined by the California Commission of Campaign Financing to be model legislation that addresses many of the problems encountered during the initiative process in California. Three workshops were conducted in 1997 with the Senate Special Legislation Committee, where further amendments were made to address the their concerns. Even though Committee members conceded that their concerns had been addressed through amendments, they voted 11-5 in 1998 to not send it to the Senate floor. The House Judiciary Committee also has never passed this legislation out of committee.
The Voter Initiative legislation contains two bills: one is the statutory portion; the other is the Constitutional Amendment. These bills include many protections that would avoid problems that have occurred in other states. Below are examples of these protections.
A. The constitutional amendment includes the following:
- Wording to protect civil rights and liberties of individuals and groups of individuals:
“No initiative shall be permitted which shall abridge the civil rights or liberties, including those guaranteed by Article I of the Rhode Island Constitution, of any individual or group of individuals and no initiative shall be permitted which could repeal or amend this sentence. The superior court shall have original jurisdiction to hear complaints arising under this section on an expedited basis. Any individual shall have standing to bring action at any time to enforce this section.”
- Constitutional Initiatives to appropriate or diminish state revenues or effect the generation or expenditure of state revenues through the ordinary legislative budget process are not allowed.
- Initiatives affecting fiscal matters will not take effect in the current fiscal year. Any statutory amendment that appropriates over $250,000 must also enact a commensurate increase in revenues and/or decrease in revenues not prohibited by the constitution.
- Signatures for a statutory initiative must equal at least 5% (approximately 20,000) of the total votes cast for office of governor at the preceding general election. For a Constitutional Amendment initiative the total signatures necessary is 10% (approximately 40,000) of the total votes cast for office of governor at the preceding general election. These percentages are among the highest of those states that have voter initiative. The 10% threshold for constitutional initiatives preserves the integrity of the Rhode Island Constitution.
- Signatures in the petition process are gathered from a broad geographic base of the state. Signatures from at least twenty (20) cities and/or towns, of which four (4) must be cities, must meet the above percentage requirements. Thus a single city cannot control placing an initiative on the ballot.
- If any provisions of constitutional amendments and/or laws approved by the people at the same election are in conflict with each other, then the provisions which received the largest number of affirmative votes at such election shall govern; and in any case an initiative approved by the voters shall supersede any conflicting law.
- An initiative that has a singular or exclusive impact on any city or town must also be approved by the voters of that city or town.
- The General Assembly shall not, within four (4) years after passage, repeal or alter any statutory initiative unless by a three-fourths (3/4) vote of both houses.
- Initiatives can only be placed on the general election ballot. (Some states and cities or towns have initiative at any election, primary or special election, allowing much more influence of special interests.)
B. The statutory portion details the process of initiating a referendum, with the restrictions on the types of referenda. Features include:
- An initiative measure embracing more than one subject may not be submitted to the electors.
- Circulators of petitions will display a badge identifying them as “Paid Circulator” or “Volunteer Circulator.” Compensation to circulators cannot be on a per signature basis.
- Rhode Island campaign finance laws pertaining to contributions, expenditures and reporting requirements shall apply to any campaign in support of or in opposition to any initiative.
- There is a legislative review process with hearings on any proposed initiative. Legislative Committees shall conduct public hearings on the merits of the petition. The House and Senate will take a recorded vote on the initiative. If passed by the legislature and signed by the governor, there is no need for the ballot question. If not passed by the legislature, the recorded vote, listing each legislator, will appear in the Voter Information Handbook.
- There will be a fiscal impact statement for any initiative prepared by the secretary of state, the treasurer, and the director of administration in consultation with the senate and house fiscal advisors. If the initiative involves any expenditures, the estimate shall state the recurring annual amount involved or if it does not involve an annual recurring amount, then the total amount Any fiscal impact over $100,000 will appear in the Voter Information Handbook and on the ballot. And remember, in the constitutional portion, fiscal matters can only be enacted in the following fiscal year. This prevents the problem of ballot box budgeting, in which initiatives rather than the legislature allocates the bulk of the state budget.
C. Concerns
- There are concerns about big money controlling an initiative. In spite of big money trying to sway the public to approve the gambling issue in 1994, the people voted to disapprove gambling. Big money did not sway the voters, but it continues to sway our elected and appointed officials as pressures to expand gambling increase in this state. In contrast, the people voted yes for “initiative and referendum” and for ten years the General Assembly leadership did not allow these bills out of committee. Legislators have repeatedly been asked to place a binding referendum on the ballot in response to the majority of those who voted “yes” on advisory question #8 in November 1996.
- Some issues are too complex for the average voter. In Rhode Island, the initiate proposal imposes a readability simplification requirement. Only one question is allowed in an initiative. Furthermore there will be public debate throughout the 11 months of signature gathering and the required hearings held by the General Assembly. This is far greater scrutiny than is presently given to legislation by the General Assembly. Also, the question must be worded so that a response to “approve” would enact the initiative.
- The Initiative process will disrupt normal representative government. There are thousand of bills introduced in the general assembly, but there would be very few initiatives, due to the difficult process of gathering signatures. The created process in Rhode Island integrates representative government and direct democracy. An ongoing voter initiative would not undermine the legitimate day-to-day powers of government or interfere with representative government. However, elected officials will be required to be more responsive to the wishes and demands of citizens, when faced with the possibility of voter initiative.
- Well-financed special interest groups will influence the process. Special interests do not thrive on the initiative process; they find the sometimes self-serving legislature far easier to manage. Special interests can influence legislative leaders with a lot less money than it would take to influence a ballot question. Special interest groups fear the Initiative process because it is as a mechanism for the public to express their will. Lobbyists and special interest groups would have to expose their tactics in order to influence approximately 400,000 people. Voters displayed their resistance to well financed influence by voting down the gambling referendum in 1994.
- Initiatives cause ballot clutter. Only a few states have a large number of referenda questions, such as California, and most of those are introduced by the legislature, not through the initiative process.
- Initiatives create tyranny of the majority. The U.S. Constitution prevents any such actions.
D. Facts
- In Rhode Island, 19 municipal governments have initiative and referendum, and yet, the general assembly won’t even allow a floor debate on the issue. The 19 municipalities are Barrington, Bristol, Glocester, Jamestown, Lincoln, Little Compton, Middletown, Narragansett, Newport, North Kingstown, North Smithfield, Pawtucket, Portsmouth, Providence, Smithfield, Tiverton, Warren, Warwick, and Westerly.
- In an analysis by the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), it was found that states with I & R have considerable higher voter turnout. Between the years 1976 and 1996 the average percent turnout of eligible voters in I & R states was 52%. In the non-I&R states it was 46.5%.”
- Twenty-four states currently permit their citizens to propose constitutional amendments or develop legislation through direct or indirect initiatives. Hundreds of cities and counties have adopted I & R, including Washington DC, New York City and Los Angeles.
- California has more initiative activity than other areas because its population is equal in size to six other states and about 75 % of the propositions are placed on the ballot by public officials.
- 24 states have I & R. including Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
- In 1996, Governor’s from ten other states endorsed I & R ( Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia.)
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