Citizens in Charge

Sponsors of a bill signed into law Tuesday say the new restrictions on ballot initiative backers could prevent future tangles like those surrounding a series of anti-tax measures before voters this November. House Bill 1370 requires that issue committees, the term for groups backing initiatives, register with the state and begin disclosing financial information as soon as they print and distribute 200 petitions. Current rules require these groups to register only after they raise or spend $200, a threshold that can be harder to gauge, according to bill co-sponsor Sen.