Citizens in Charge

Oklahomans are celebrating the passage of a major reform to the state’s stringent ballot initiative process.  Senate Joint Resolution 13 (SJR-13) passed the legislature and will now be on the 2010 ballot for the voters of Oklahoma.

“A fundamental right of the people is to be able to petition their government and create their own laws,” said Brian Downs, Executive Director of Oklahomans for Responsible Government (OFRG).  “Oklahoma has one of the highest barriers to getting a measure on the ballot and Senate Joint Resolution 13 will make that a little easier.”

SJR-13 would change the state’s calculation for the number of signatures required to get a referendum, statutory initiative or constitutional amendment on the ballot. Currently the law switches the number of signatures needed between the gubernatorial or presidential election, using whichever was most recent. This back and forth causes confusion and complications to the system. Under SJR-13, this requirement would be based solely on the last gubernatorial election.

“By standardizing the calculation, it ensures that the people have equal access to the ballot for their concerns and don’t have to wait two years for a more achievable signature count,” said Downs.

Downs and the entire team at Oklahomans for Responsible Government have played a pivotal role in organizing activists and educating elected officials on the need to reform the initiative process.

Paul Jacob, President of Citizens in Charge Foundation, called SJR-13 “the most important pro-initiative measure passed by a state legislature in many, many years — arguably decades.”

In the last decade, only three Oklahoma initiatives have made it on the ballot for a popular vote. If SJR-13 were in effect today, Oklahomans would need 37% fewer signatures to qualify an initiative. For example, to get a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot today would require about 220,000 signatures compared to less than 140,000 signatures if SJR-13 were in effect.

Oklahomans for Initiative Rights (OIR) is also working to reform the state’s initiative process.  OIR is towing an 18-foot long, 10-foot tall replica of Oklahoma to every corner of the state. The campaign expects to visit more than 50 cities bringing attention to needed reforms to improve the initiative process and protect their constitutional rights.

In addition to SJR 13, Oklahomans for Responsible Government and Oklahomans for Initiative Rights, as well as other groups, are working to pass House Bill 2246. This statute would clean up numerous problems in the state’s initiative process, including giving citizens more time to gather petition signatures. Current law allows citizens only 90 days to gather hundreds of thousands of signatures. If HB-2246 becomes law, citizens would have a full year to collect signatures. HB-2246 has passed both legislative chambers and now awaits further action in a conference committee.