LITTLE ROCK — For the second time, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel on Wednesday rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would reduce the percentages required for placing an initiative or referendum on the ballot.
The proposal, which also would modify some clauses in Article 5, Section 1, contained several ambiguities, McDaniel said in rejecting the measure’s popular name and ballot title for the second time since Dec. 21.
Article 5 provides for the operations of the Legislature. Section 1 details the number of signatures needed to get a proposed citizens initiative, constitutional amendment or a statewide referendum on the ballot.
McDaniel said Wednesday the proposal filed by Frederick Scott of Maumelle, spokesman for the Little Red Hen Committee, was unclear on the basis for the number of signatures it would require for different forms of local government, as well as in the deadline for filing a local referendum petition.
The attorney general also said the measure’s popular name was needlessly vague, noting that “The Initiative and Referendum” does not even convey “the bare idea that your proposal is in fact a proposal to change existing law.”
He deemed the proposed ballot title “overly partisan” in claiming to clarify obscure clauses of the constitution when it actually would confuse the law.