Last week, Senators in the State Affairs Committee voted on Senate Bill 1159 that would make it nearly impossible for a voter initiative to get on the ballot. The legislation almost doubles the signatures required (from 6% to 10% of registered voters) and increases the number of districts from which signatures are needed (previous law set the minimum number of districts at 18 but this bill increase it to 32 out of the 35 districts). The legislation also reduces the time frame citizens have to collect signatures, making it nearly impossible for citizens to get enough signatures to put an initiative on the ballot. This gives an unfair advantage to wealthy special interest groups that have the resources and funding to meet the harsh requirements set by this legislation. It is no coincidence that this bill comes after citizens garnered the support for Proposition 2 and voted in favor of implementing Medicaid Expansion with 61% of the vote. This legislation is clearly an effort to punish voters for supporting the Medicaid expansion. After a party line vote in the State Affairs Committee, the bill narrowly passed the Senate 18 to 17.
