In North Dakota, we have a long-standing tradition of holding our elected officials accountable by empowering the public to take direct action to reform government when politicians are either unwilling or unable to do so themselves. Conversely, throughout the history of the state, the legislature has tried time and again to curtail the ability for citizens to provide a check and balance on the legislature.
The Initiative and Referendum process is a long-standing tradition in North Dakota. The legislature’s continuous knee-jerk reactions of trying to curtail this tradition are also long-standing as there have been dozens of attempts over the decades to rein in the power of citizens to affect change in their own government – most recently in 2019 with the passage of Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR) 4001.
This resolution will appear on the November 2020 ballot and ask voters to hand the legislature the ability to over-ride the will of the people on Constitutional Initiated Measures. While the legislature has the power to put this before the public, it is a power-grab by the legislature and the people will have the last word on it. It is our hope that voters will reject this attempt to infringe on the Powers Reserved to the People by Article III of the North Dakota Constitution.
With this in mind, our group of politically diverse North Dakotans has come together to give the voters a chance to proactively protect their rights as enumerated in Article III of the North Dakota state constitution. This Article is in fact titled: “Powers Reserved to the People”. Another word for this phrase is “Rights”.
To protect these rights, this proposed initiated measure will add a new section to Article III that ends the legislature’s ability to place measures on the ballot to alter Article III. Under this proposed measure, if legislators want to make changes they will have to use the same process citizens must use - start a measure sponsor committee to collect the required signatures. The following is the language we intend to insert into Article III of the state constitution:
To protect these rights, this proposed initiated measure will add a new section to Article III that ends the legislature’s ability to place measures on the ballot to alter Article III. Under this proposed measure, if legislators want to make changes they will have to use the same process citizens must use - start a measure sponsor committee to collect the required signatures.
The following provisions would be added to the constitution if this measure is approved by the voters:
Any statute that impacts the exercise of powers granted to the people in this article is subject to review by the supreme court in the exercise of original jurisdiction....[However], the legislative assembly may not submit a constitutional amendment to the electors if the amendment would alter the powers granted to the people under article III of the constitution or if the amendment constitutes a resubmission of a constitutional amendment approved by a majority of voters within the last seven years.
This language is simple and does four basic things:
- ends the legislature's "short cut" for putting measures on the ballot that would make the initiated measure process tougher.
- requires legislators act as citizens and collect signatures to make changes to Article III of the constitution.
- prohibits the legislature from sending measures back to the voters for a 2nd vote once it has passed.
- allows citizens to go directly to the State Supreme Court to challenge legislative actions that threaten the initiated measure and referendum process.
We as a sponsoring committee are not challenging the legislature’s proper ability to offer amendments to any other part of the constitution beyond the “Powers Reserved to the People.” However, since Article III powers are truly reserved to the people the legislature should not have the authority to propose changes to those powers.
If legislators personally feel the need to make changes, they are free to act as citizens and do the work that we will now do over the next year.
We look forward to making this case to the voters of North Dakota.
The Initiative and Referendum process is a long-standing tradition in North Dakota. The legislature’s continuous knee-jerk reactions of trying to curtail this tradition are also long-standing as there have been dozens of attempts over the decades to rein in the power of citizens to affect change in their own government – most recently in 2019 with the passage of Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR) 4001.
This resolution will appear on the November 2020 ballot and ask voters to hand the legislature the ability to over-ride the will of the people on Constitutional Initiated Measures. While the legislature has the power to put this before the public, it is a power-grab by the legislature and the people will have the last word on it. It is our hope that voters will reject this attempt to infringe on the Powers Reserved to the People by Article III of the North Dakota Constitution.
With this in mind, our group of politically diverse North Dakotans has come together to give the voters a chance to proactively protect their rights as enumerated in Article III of the North Dakota state constitution. This Article is in fact titled: “Powers Reserved to the People”. Another word for this phrase is “Rights”.
To protect these rights, this proposed initiated measure will add a new section to Article III that ends the legislature’s ability to place measures on the ballot to alter Article III. Under this proposed measure, if legislators want to make changes they will have to use the same process citizens must use - start a measure sponsor committee to collect the required signatures. The following is the language we intend to insert into Article III of the state constitution:
To protect these rights, this proposed initiated measure will add a new section to Article III that ends the legislature’s ability to place measures on the ballot to alter Article III. Under this proposed measure, if legislators want to make changes they will have to use the same process citizens must use - start a measure sponsor committee to collect the required signatures.
The following provisions would be added to the constitution if this measure is approved by the voters:
Any statute that impacts the exercise of powers granted to the people in this article is subject to review by the supreme court in the exercise of original jurisdiction....[However], the legislative assembly may not submit a constitutional amendment to the electors if the amendment would alter the powers granted to the people under article III of the constitution or if the amendment constitutes a resubmission of a constitutional amendment approved by a majority of voters within the last seven years.
This language is simple and does four basic things:
- ends the legislature's "short cut" for putting measures on the ballot that would make the initiated measure process tougher.
- requires legislators act as citizens and collect signatures to make changes to Article III of the constitution.
- prohibits the legislature from sending measures back to the voters for a 2nd vote once it has passed.
- allows citizens to go directly to the State Supreme Court to challenge legislative actions that threaten the initiated measure and referendum process.
We as a sponsoring committee are not challenging the legislature’s proper ability to offer amendments to any other part of the constitution beyond the “Powers Reserved to the People.” However, since Article III powers are truly reserved to the people the legislature should not have the authority to propose changes to those powers.
If legislators personally feel the need to make changes, they are free to act as citizens and do the work that we will now do over the next year.
We look forward to making this case to the voters of North Dakota.