The North Dakota House State and Local Government Committee will hear SCR 4013 on Thursday, March 9, at 10:15 am. This is the proposed constitutional amendment to make it far more difficult for statewide initiatives.
The bill has already passed the Senate. It says no one may circulate an initiative petition who has not resided in the state 120 days before the first signature is collected. It says no circulator may be paid. It increases the number of signatures for constitutional amendments from 4% of the population, to 5%. It says constitutional initiatives must pass twice, first in the primary election and then in the following general election.
An earlier version of the bill said initiatives to change the constitution must pass by 67% of the popular vote, but that has been deleted.
The part of the bill banning any payment of any type to circulators violates the U.S. Supreme Court decision Meyer v Grant (1988), which was a unanimous decision.
Source: ballot-access
