Rare move sends amendment idea to floor of Arkansas Senate

Bid to curb constitution changes fails in vote, but 5 panelists sign a go-ahead

Thanks to a rarely used procedure, a proposed constitutional amendment to limit future constitutional changes advanced to the Senate on Tuesday even though it received little support earlier in the day in committee.

House Joint Resolution 1003 by House Speaker Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, failed to gain approval in an open committee meeting, with only one or two members in favor of the measure during a vote by raised hands. Five members must vote in favor of a measure for it to advance out of an eight-member Senate committee.

But after the vote, Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Hindsville, who presented the resolution, privately courted approval from senators to sign HJR1003 out of committee and into the Senate. Most measures leave committees by a vote during a meeting.

If adopted by the Senate, the resolution would place the proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot for voters to consider in the November 2018 general election. It would be the third amendment proposed by the Legislature for the 2018 ballot.

In that election, a simple majority of voters could approve the proposed amendment. If HJR1003 is enacted, any future constitutional amendment would require approval by 60 percent of voters.

Soon after the Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee failed to approve Gillam's resolution, Ballinger had secured the five necessary signatures.

"I think a lot of people just really hadn't thought about it. It was sprung on them," Ballinger said when asked what changed senators minds' about the bill. "I had a chance to communicate with a couple of them, and they agreed that they are OK with it getting out."

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After the failure in committee, Gillam walked into a meeting of the House Judiciary Committee -- where his seat has sat vacant for most of the session -- and began speaking against the Senate bills being considered by the committee.

Gillam said he heard about the resolution's failure before he spoke against the Senate bills.

"I had already planned to be a part of the committee," he said when asked whether he spoke against the bills because of HJR1003's failure.

Sens. Eddie Joe Williams, R-Cabot; Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View; David Wallace, R-Leachville; Terry Rice, R-Waldron; and Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, signed the resolution out of the governmental affairs committee.

The move was news to some members of the committee -- including Sen. Trent Garner, R-El Dorado, and Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest -- who were approached by reporters. Sen. Gary Stubblefield, R-Branch, also is on the committee.

Irvin, who did not vote for the bill in committee, said she agreed to sign it out to let the Senate consider it. She said she is neutral on the measure.

"The House voted it through, so I feel like the Senate should have a full debate on it," she said.

In addition to raising standards on citizen-sponsored amendments, lawmakers would face a higher threshold for getting their proposed amendments on the ballot. Both chambers would have to approve a proposed amendment by a two-thirds majority, rather than the current simple majority.

The proposed amendment also would add to the requirements for petitioners working to get initiated amendments on the ballot. Petitioners would have to gather signatures from at least 25 counties, instead of the current 15.

Legislative ballot titles also would be reviewed by the attorney general to ensure they are intelligible, honest and impartial. Currently, the attorney general's office reviews only those of initiated measures.

Since 1874, 98 amendments have been added to the constitution.

The four most recent amendments, approved in November, included a voter-referred amendment to legalize medical marijuana.

That proposal was adopted with 53 percent of the vote, despite a large majority of lawmakers who publicly opposed it.

Before the election, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that three initiated measures did not meet the requirements to be put to a public vote, but that ruling came after printing of ballots had started across the state.

One of those proposals, Issue 5, would have amended the state constitution to authorize up to three casinos to be run by companies controlled by Missouri businessmen. The amendment proposed by HJR1003 states that no business or person can be written by name into the state constitution.

The proposed amendment also would change part of the process for initiated acts. Petitions for any statewide ballot measure -- amendment or act -- would have to be submitted 180 days before an election, instead of four months before.

During the Senate committee meeting, Jerry Cox, president of Family Council, said the amendment would make it harder for grass-roots groups to get amendments on the ballot.

Changing the state constitution would largely be left to the Legislature and the wealthy, he said.

"It really is difficult as it is to use regular folks and go out here and do this, and so what you're doing is you're setting up barriers that don't solve any problems," Cox said.

But Ballinger said the resolution tried to strike a balance so it would be difficult -- but not impossible -- to change the state's highest law.

"The constitution should be something that is stable -- that is not easily changed," he said. "What we've done is incorporate things to make it where we increase the standard -- both on us ... and also on the public."

Williams, chairman of Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee, and a supporter of the resolution, said the move to sign HJR1003 out of committee is not unusual toward the end of a legislative session.

"Our constitution is a precious historical document, and when we start writing individual companies and individual names into the constitution, that's a problem," he said. "We are simply abusing a wonderful document by allowing that."

Information for this article was contributed by Michael R. Wickline and John Moritz of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

A Section on 03/29/2017

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