JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi legislators are working to revive a way for people to petition to put issues on the statewide ballot. This is happening months after the state Supreme Court found the state’s old initiative process was invalid.
The Senate on Tuesday adopted a version of House Concurrent Resolution 39, which would allow people to collect signatures on petitions to put proposed state laws on the ballot.
The state’s old initiative process allowed people to collect signatures to put proposed state constitutional amendments on the ballot.
In May, the state Supreme Court ruled that the old process was out of date because it required people to gather signatures from congressional districts that had not been used in two decades.
The initiative process itself would have to be put into the state constitution. If the House and Senate agree on a single version of the resolution, the proposal would go on a statewide ballot and would need to be accepted by a majority of voters.
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The Mississippi Free Press produced this story through the MFP Solutions Lab, supported by the Solutions Journalism Network. This series digs into Mississippi’s systemic issues and sheds light on responses to them in other communities. Beyond just reporting on problems, these stories interrogate their causes and inspect potential solutions.
