Bills seek to guard initiatives

BOISE – A Democratic senator has introduced two bills that would let voters have the last say if the Legislature repeals a voter-passed initiative.

But the bill from Sen. Elliot Werk, D-Boise, may not go far. Senate GOP leaders oppose the idea, and Werk last year couldn’t get his measure introduced.

“The people of Idaho deserve to understand the full range of ideas that are out there,” Werk said. “Republicans are stifling those ideas.”

This year, he has filed the two measures early as personal bills. That allows him to introduce each without a committee’s approval. SJR 103 would amend the Idaho Constitution to give voters a final say on initiative repeals. SB 1257 would enact a law to carry out the constitutional change.

“It’s the people’s statute. If we repeal it, we certainly should have a good reason,” Werk said.

Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, said there are problems with Werk’s approach.

“I think when you drag a comb through the concept, you create substantial legal snarls that would substantially impact our great state,” said Davis, an attorney. “I don’t think that’s the way to go.”

Idahoans already have a way to reverse actions of the Legislature, Davis said, by filing a referendum.

“The referendum process is still in place. There is nothing the Legislature can do today that can’t be undone by a simple referendum,” he said.

In Idaho, voter initiatives are just like any other state laws: Lawmakers can amend them or repeal them. The issue was highlighted in 2002, when the Legislature voted to repeal a voter-passed initiative setting term limits on elected offices, including their own. Supporters of the initiative then gathered thousands of signatures to put a referendum on the ballot to repeal the repeal, but it narrowly failed.

Werk said he knocked on thousands of doors as he campaigned for the Legislature and found many people upset. They didn’t necessarily want term limits, Werk said. They just didn’t like the “arrogance” in the way the Legislature overruled voters, he added.

After introducing his two personal bills, Werk got an e-mail from an Idahoan on Friday who described himself as a “lifelong, dyed-in-the wool Republican” but lauded the Democrat’s proposal.

“I am firmly against term limits. However, I feel it was unconstitutional for the Legislature to override the initiative,” Aaron Christopherson of Kuna, Idaho, wrote to Werk. “This amendment will leave no doubt. … I thank you again and will urge my representatives to support SJR 103.”

Idaho is unlike most initiative states in that voters can pass only statutes. They can’t amend the state Constitution by initiative. The only way to amend the Idaho Constitution is by a two-thirds vote of each house of the Legislature, followed by a majority vote of the people.

No state that allows voters to directly amend their state constitution allows lawmakers to override that decision.

Washington, like Idaho, limits voter initiatives to statutes, but lawmakers there need a two-thirds vote to amend or repeal an initiative within the first two years after it’s enacted.

Davis said Werk’s legislation would dilute the authority of the Legislature by setting up a kind of statute that can’t be legislatively changed.

“It creates this set of laws that are not really statutes anymore,” he said.

Davis said he views the initiative process as “a public expression of substantial concern” that should prompt attention from lawmakers but shouldn’t necessarily be enacted as written if there are legal complications.

Werk said his bills this year would let lawmakers change initiatives without voter approval but not repeal them entirely.