A proposed constitutional amendment that would limit state lawmakers elected several years from now to serving a dozen consecutive years before requiring them to take a four-year break from legislative service won final legislative approval on Tuesday to be placed on the 2020 general election ballot.
Then, the Senate and a House committee on Tuesday approved companion resolutions to allow the Legislature to consider referring a third proposed constitutional amendment -- House Joint Resolution 1008 by Rep. DeAnn Vaught, R-Horatio. The proposed amendment would make it more difficult for both residents and lawmakers to refer measures to voters.
Under joint legislative rules, two-thirds of the 100-member House and 35-member Senate are required to vote on resolutions to allow the House and the Senate consider referring a third amendment.
The Senate voted 27-6 to approve Senate Resolution 40 by Sen. Mathew Pitsch, R-Fort Smith, and then the House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee, in a split voice vote, recommended House approval of House Resolution 1073 by Vaught.
The House's approval of HR1073 is required before the committee can begin considering Vaught's proposed constitutional amendment on ballot proposals.
The House and Senate previously approved referring to the 2020 general election ballot a proposed constitutional amendment that would permanently extend the half-percent sales tax for highways approved by voters in 2012 for a 10-year period. That's House Joint Resolution 1018 by Rep. Jeff Wardlaw, R-Hermitage.
[RELATED: Complete Democrat-Gazette coverage of the Arkansas Legislature]
The Senate on Tuesday voted 26-5 to approve Senate Joint Resolution 15 by Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, the proposed term-limits amendment, after concurring with what Clark described as a technical amendment added to the measure by the House. No action by the governor is required on joint resolutions proposing constitutional amendments.
Under SJR15, state lawmakers elected after Jan. 1, 2021, would be limited to 12 consecutive years in the House, Senate or both. Two-year Senate terms related to redistricting would be included in that total.
Also under the resolution, lawmakers now in office who serve 16 years (or 18 or 20 years because of Senate redistricting) would become eligible for subsequent service in the General Assembly, but only once they are out of office for four years.
Under Amendment 94 to the Arkansas Constitution approved by voters in 2014, lawmakers are now limited to serving up to 16 years in the House or Senate, of combined service in both chambers. Senate terms are four years and House terms are two years. Senators who draw a two-year term after once-a-decade legislative redistricting are eligible to serve that term beyond the 16-year limit.
On March 14, the private Arkansas Term Limits ballot committee filed its own proposed constitutional amendment that would set the maximum at 10 years. That proposal is similar to the committee's last one that the Arkansas Supreme Court struck from the November 2018 ballot. To get its latest proposal on the 2020 ballot, the committee will have to collect more than 89,000 valid signatures of registered voters.
Fifteen states, including Arkansas, have term limits for state lawmakers. The strictest are in California and Oklahoma, which limit lawmakers to 12 years.
Pitsch told senators that the proposed constitutional amendment under HJR1008 by Vaught "would protect our constitution from all the changes that have taken place."
The proposed amendment would:
• Require initiative petitions for statewide measures to be filed with the secretary of state by Jan. 15 of the year they would be voted on. They are now required to be filed by four months before the election.
• Require a challenge to the sufficiency of a statewide ballot measure to be filed no later than April 15 of the year of the general election in which the ballot measure will be voted on.
• Eliminate the 30-day cure period, which gives more time for signature gathering if the sponsor of a proposed ballot measure falls short but turns in at least 75 percent of the required number of valid signatures.
• Require a three-fifths vote of the 35-member Senate and 100-member House to refer a proposed constitutional amendment to voters. Currently, a majority vote on both chambers is required.
• Require initiative petitions to have sufficient signatures based on a designated percentage of the gubernatorial votes in the previous election from each of 45 counties, up from the current 15.
A Section on 04/03/2019