History
After Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment establishing
I&R in November 1912, the Ohio leaders turned their attention to the state
next door. Rev. Herbert S. Bigelow and other leaders spoke throughout the
state and helped organize a Citizens’ League to work for I&R. Yet a native
Indiana reformer gave the situation a gloomy assessment in 1914:
“Indiana, politically, is one of the most backward of our States. It must
continue to be, under the ironclad restrictions of the present constitution.
The state has remained untouched by the progressive movement in the
states around it.” The only victory for I&R advocates came in 1913, when
the legislature approved a Public Utilities Act that included a provision
allowing municipal initiatives to mandate municipal purchase and
operation of utilities (Public Service Commission Act of 1913, Sect. 8-1-2-
99/100 [54-612, 613]).
State Senator John Bushemi of Gary waged a long, lonely battle in the
late 1970s and 1980s to pass a statewide I&R amendment, but he
received little support from other legislators and constituents.
Excerpted from the Initiative & Referendum Almanac by M. Dane Waters.