By a vote of 79-10, the Arkansas House approved a resolution to ask voters in 2018 to amend the Constitution to make it much harder, particularly for the people, to amend the Constitution.
HJR 1003 piles some huge new petition requirements on an already difficult and expensive process for popular petitions. The legislature will have a somewhat higher bar to put amendments on the ballot — a two-thirds vote, but that’s not a high bar in an overwhelmingly Republican and business-controlled legislature. Proposals this year to require a photo ID to vote and to make it hard to sue for damages both easily hit that mark this year.
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The measure goes to the Senate.