Bill would require stricter threshold for citizen initiatives to make ballot

A Senate bill by Sen. Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens, would make it more difficult to bring citizen initiatives to the Idaho Legislature by requiring signatures from all 35 of the state’s legislative districts instead of the current 18.

The current signature threshold of 6% or more of the district’s population would remain the same.

Vick, who could not be reached before the deadline for this article, has said his bill aims to provide more inclusion for rural parts of the state. Others, however, contend the requirements would make it harder for citizens to make their voices heard in an already-difficult process.

Luke Mayville, co-founder of Reclaim Idaho, said that in the past eight years only two initiatives made it onto the ballot, and only one — Medicaid expansion — passed with 61% approval.

As of a Wednesday hearing, over there were 45 people signed up to testify in favor SB 1110, and at least 141 in opposition.

Mayville said he believes there may have been more, but they were prevented from testifying because of technical challenges. A second hearing was pushed to Friday, he said, when he will testify personally.

Mayville’s organization, which spearheaded efforts for the Medicaid expansion initiative, would not have made it onto the ballot if the proposed rule were in place, he said. With thousands of volunteers, the Medicaid expansion initiative reached the threshold requirement in 21 out of 35 legislative districts.

“This bill has nothing to do with rural voters,” Mayville said. “It’s an attempt by politicians to seize power from ordinary citizens and guarantee that no grassroots initiative ever happens again.”

In practice, Mayville said, he believes the bill would help corporate and out-of-state interests and not rural residents.

“If an initiative campaign has millions of dollars, they can simply spend more money and hire more people,” he said.