MONTGOMERY ADVERTISER EDITORIAL 

[Mar19,2004]

Opinion - March 19, 2004

Montgomery, Alabama

 

Initiative bills empower people

In a perfect governmental setting, government would be so responsive to issues that concern citizens that all such matters would be addressed. In the real world, however, that doesn't always happen and citizens often are frustrated by inaction on issues. In 24 states, citizens can take matters into their own hands and place issues on the ballot for a vote. This process, called initiative and referendum, may vary in details from state to state, but the basic idea is the same -- forcing consideration of significant public issues even if legislators aren't willing to do so. In Alabama, that is not an option. It ought to be. Two measures introduced in the House of Representatives would empower the citizenry with initiative and referendum. If the provisions of the two bills can be combined into a single measure to establish such a process in Alabama, the potential benefit is enormous. A subcommittee of the House Constitution and Elections Committee has been directed to examine the two bills and come up with a proposal for initiative and referendum. House Bill 579, by Rep. Mike Ball, R-Huntsville, allows citizens to propose a general law through a petition bearing signatures of qualified voters totaling at least 7 percent of the number of votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election. That would be about 95,000 signatures, based on the 2002 election. Signatures would have to come from every congressional district and represent at least 1 percent of the vote cast in the previous gubernatorial election in each district. This kind of balance is critical to the structure of an initiative and referendum system. Proponents of a proposed ballot measure should be required to demonstrate a reasonable degree of support, both in signature numbers and in geographic distribution of them, for their measure. Otherwise, fringe groups or bands of coffee shop complainers could clog the ballot with measures that have little real support. Under Ball's bill, a measure with the required number of valid signatures would be presented to the Legislature and introduced in each house "in bill form and treated in every respect the same as any other bill for a general law." If the Legislature does not enact the proposal, which it is not permitted to amend, by the 21st legislative day, the measure goes on the ballot. The Legislature may offer an alternate proposal. If this proposal passes, both measures are placed on the ballot. The second bill, House Bill 88 by Rep. Blaine Galliher, R-Gadsden, extends referendum and initiative to the local level, allowing citizens in a city or county or an unincorporated portion of a county to petition for enactment or repeal of local legislation, laws or ordinances. A combining of the two bills into a single measure creating an initiative and referendum process at both the statewide and local would be a huge empowerment of the citizenry and a powerful incentive for legislators to take seriously the public policy concerns of their constituents.