JACKSON • A plan to allow citizens to circumvent political power and directly change state laws remains alive in the Capitol, although state leaders are tweaking the proposal.
The Senate Accountability, Efficiency and Transparency Committee on Tuesday afternoon approved House Resolution 39, which partially restores the citizen’s initiative process. The resolution allows citizens to directly change state laws but not the state Constitution, as the previous initiative process allowed.
“I think (the House) has a good base bill that we can build upon,” Senate Accountability, Efficiency and Transparency Chairman John Polk said.
The proposal would require initiative sponsors to collect an equal share of signatures from the state’s congressional districts, and require the Secretary of State’s office to verify the signatures.
The resolution would prohibit legislators from altering a law that was passed by voter initiative for two years, unless two-thirds of the lawmakers in both chambers believe that a major emergency exists.
Polk, R-Hattiesburg, added language to the resolution requiring lawmakers to settle on a final proposal later in the legislative session.
Overall, Polk has kept his cards close to the chest when it comes to the initiative process. He remained reserved on Tuesday when pressed by reporters on what he wanted to change about the resolution or why he thought more work was needed.
“This is such an important issue that we want to get this right before we pass it,” Polk said. “Today was just not the day to do that.”
The resolution will now head to the full Senate chamber for consideration. The last day the Senate has to pass the resolution is March 9.
If both legislative chambers agree on a resolution to restore the initiative process, it would go before voters on a statewide ballot for approval.
The initiative process was voided by the Mississippi Supreme Court last year over technical issues that were raised during a lawsuit over medical marijuana.
