OKLAHOMA WATCH: Oklahoma lawmakers propose new restrictions, requirements for initiative petitions
Feb. 1—A handful of Republican lawmakers are looking to add requirements for initiative petitions and referendums to reach the ballot and become law.
Combing through bills after the Jan. 19 filing deadline, I identified five joint resolutions that look to raise the threshold needed for state questions to pass or implement new signature collection requirements, such as requiring a percentage of signatures in every congressional district or county.
Over the last seven years, voters have approved ballot initiatives implementing criminal justice reform, expanding Medicaid and legalizing medical marijuana. After voters approved the Medicaid expansion question by a thin margin in June 2020, some lawmakers began voicing concerns that the process favors urban voters and is tainted by out-of-state influence.
Oklahoma's initiative petition process is protected in the state Constitution, and any legislative attempt to modify the Constitution has to go through the people. So voters will get the final say on any one of these measures via a state question if they clear the Legislature.
Last year, similar proposals looking to clamp down on state questions cleared the House on party-line votes but fizzled out in the Senate. As the resolutions were being considered, experts warned that additional requirements could make it next to impossible for all but the most well-funded groups to get a question on the ballot.
