Bill to cap initiative petition signatures advances in House
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — There was a fiery reaction inside the Capitol Tuesday during a House Government Oversight Committee meeting.
Members were voting on Senate Bill 1027, which would change the way people can collect signatures for citizen-led initiative petitions, has already passed through the Senate.
Concerned Oklahomans inside the meeting booed lawmakers after they voted 14-3 to pass the measure through for consideration on the House floor.
Melodie Garneau was one of them.
"It’s their way of trying to keep the rest of us shut up and not question them,” said Garneau.
Citizen-led initiative petitions allow signatures for Oklahomans to request a measure be added to a ballot for a vote of the people. Recent initiative petitions have led to the expansion of Medicaid and legalized medical marijuana in the state.
"There's obviously been a lot of conversations about it, but it's an important election integrity bill," said House Speaker Kyle Hilbert (R-Bristow).
The legislation reforms the initiative petition process by capping the number of signatures that can come from each county. The state’s two biggest counties, Oklahoma and Tulsa, would not be allowed to collect more than 11.5 percent of signatures.
"The population of the state of Oklahoma is not equally distributed among our 77 counties, and therefore this is an arbitrary and unfair way to dilute the voices of the people who happen to live in urban Oklahoma," said Rep. Forrest Bennett (D-Oklahoma City).
Hilbert argued that the measure would allow for more transparency and give rural communities the chance to be part of the conversation.
"It ensures it pushes out the signature gathering process to make sure that it's not all confined to the metros," said Hilbert.
Rep. Mickey Dollens represents part of Oklahoma City. His district would be impacted by the change.
"If this goes into effect, it would be mathematically impossible to get any future state questions on the ballot," said Dollens.
The bill will now advance to the House floor for consideration.