An amendment to encode direct democracy in the Arkansas Constitution passed its first hurdle, thanks to an opinion from Attorney General Tim Griffin Wednesday.
“An Amendment Concerning Constitutional Amendments, Initiated Acts, and Referendums” is supported by the League of Women Voters of Arkansas. It's a meta-amendment regarding the way the state constitution in Arkansas is itself amended.
The language in the proposal serves to simplify the rules. It would also require changes to the process be made by the people of Arkansas and not the legislature.
The grassroots amendment process is promised in the state constitution, but many state legislators think the process is too easy. They have worked to pass laws further regulating each step.
It's the fifth attempt to gain approval of the amendment's language and ballot title from Attorney General Tim Griffin. Part of the reason for the many attempts is a new law mandating the proposal's language be written at or below an eighth-grade reading level, limiting word complexity and syllables.
“One word can make a difference,” said David Couch, a lawyer representing the group behind the amendment, adding they relied on experts for help keeping the wording simple.
The final opinion said the language ranked slightly over an eighth-grade reading level, something Griffin fixed with a few “minor changes.”
This decision does not put the amendment on the ballot yet. The League of Women Voters still has to collect over one hundred thousand signatures from voters across the state.
In previous comments, Couch has described this process as nearly impossible. He credits this to the number of laws regulating signature collecting.
The League of Women Voters is part of a federal lawsuit to end the new restrictions on direct democracy. They say the state is effectively taking away the right to the petition process by passing so many laws about canvassing.
Meanwhile, a second group called Protect AR Rights put forward a similar amendment with only nuanced differences. In a statement, Bill Kopsky, a representative from the group, congratulated the League of Women Voters, saying “Protect AR Rights remains focused on ensuring our own amendment is built to endure legal scrutiny at every stage.”
