Here’s an early warning about a monumental issue on the November election ballot, one of the usual legislative end-runs around participatory democracy in Arkansas.

Advertisement

South Dakota smashed a proposal to make it harder to add popularly initiated laws and constitutional amendments.

The Arkansas legislature also wants to end majority rule by requiring a 60 percent vote for approval of initiated acts and amendments. This is on top of already onerous legal restrictions on petitioning. Now that Republicans and the special interests are firmly in control of the legislature, they don’t want the people upsetting the order of things by giving them a voice. Those new petition restrictions stood, for example, in the way of a proposal to establish non-partisan legislative and congressional redistricting. In both cases, Republicans gerrymandered wildly, often with blatant racial animus, to preserve and enhance representation that is already out of synch with voter preferences.

Advertisement

Pay attention. The basic rule of thumb applies: Any amendment proposed by the Arkansas legislature is a bad idea, meant to increase its power and diminish yours. Remember how the legislature wiped out term limits, increased their pay, did little in the way of ethics reform and increased legislative power over the executive? This is more cut from the same cloth.