Attorney General Dustin McDaniel on Tuesday rejected a proposed constitutional amendment to require voter approval for the creation or increase of any tax, fine or fee.
McDaniel wrote in a letter to the measure’s author, David Dinwiddie of Pine Bluff - the Libertarian candidate for lieutenant governor - that there were ambiguities in the text of the proposed amendment. The letter said the attorney general’s office could not certify the popular name and ballot title of the measure partly because they did not address how the measure would change current law.
The letter notes 13 concerns over ambiguity in the proposal, including defining what fines and fees would not be subject to the proposal; which voters would have to approve the increase or creation of a tax, fee or fine; and what entity would pay for the election.
The letter notes that Amendment 7 to the Arkansas Constitution allows for the General Assembly or a city council to amend or repeal a voter-approved measure with a two-thirds vote, which is not addressed in the proposal.
The proposal states that any increase or creation of a tax, fee or fine would need voter approval, but the decrease or elimination of a tax, fee or fine could be approved by either lawmakers or voters.
“I’ll resubmit it. This is all part of the process; they look over these thoroughly,” Dinwiddie said Tuesday. “I had an amendment approved last year that asked to change the term … for county judges and justices of the peace to four years instead of two. That got rejected the first time as well.”
In September, the attorney general approved the ballot title for the measure to change the election cycle for county officials including sheriffs, justices of the peace, county judges, collectors, assessors, treasurers, clerks and others from a two-year cycle to every four years. Dinwiddie will have to collect 78,133 signatures of registered Arkansas voters by July 7 to have that measure appear on the November ballot.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 01/29/2014