Sen. Kim Hammer (left), R-Benton, and Sen. Jonathan Dismang (right), R-Searcy, listen to the votes on the emergency clauses of two bills Hammer is sponsoring that would change Arkansas’ ballot initiative petition process on the Senate floor on Tuesday, February 25, 2025. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate)
In a reversal, the Arkansas Senate allowed two proposed changes to the state’s citizen-led ballot measure process to advance to the House on Tuesday after failing to pass the bills’ emergency clauses earlier this month.
Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, is sponsoring a slew of legislation he has said would deter fraudulent behavior and protect the integrity of the signature collection process for proposed ballot measures.
Opponents of the bills have called them a threat to the public’s right to change laws and the state Constitution, which fewer than half of states allow, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Hammer announced in January that he will run next year for Secretary of State, the executive branch office that oversees elections.
Most of the bills he is sponsoring have emergency clauses, which would allow them to go into effect immediately upon Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ signature. Emergency clauses require a two-thirds vote of at least 24 senators and at least 67 House members.
The emergency clauses on Senate Bills 209 and 210 each received 24 votes Tuesday without any debate on the proposed laws themselves. The bills initially received 21 and 22 votes, respectively, on Feb. 12, and the emergency clauses again failed to reach 24 votes the following day.
Senate Bill 209 would disqualify signatures collected by canvassers if the secretary of state finds “by a preponderance of evidence” that they violated state law collecting the signatures.
Senate Bill 210 would require potential signers to read the ballot title of a petition or have it read aloud to them in the presence of a canvasser. It would also make it a misdemeanor for a canvasser to accept a signature from people who have not read the ballot title or had it read aloud to them in the presence of a canvasser.
Republican Sens. Jimmy Hickey of Texarkana, Clint Penzo of Springdale and Gary Stubblefield of Branch voted against both emergency clauses Tuesday. Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, did not vote on either emergency clause. All four voted against the bills Feb. 12.
Sen. Tyler Dees, R-Siloam Springs, voted against SB 209 and for SB 210 on Feb. 12. He voted for both emergency clauses Feb. 13 and Tuesday.
Sen. Jim Petty, R-Van Buren, was absent Feb. 12 and did not vote on the emergency clauses Feb. 13. He voted for both emergency clauses Tuesday. Sen. Joshua Bryant, R-Rogers, was also absent Feb. 12 but voted for the emergency clauses twice.
All six Senate Democrats opposed SB 209 and SB 210.
The House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs will be next to hear the bills.
Amendments in committee
Hammer introduced a total of six bills earlier this month that would alter the ballot initiative petition process. Senate Bill 212 would create a law enforcement agency within the secretary of state’s office that could investigate the validity of submitted documents related to elections and ballot initiatives.
The bill failed in the Senate State Agencies Committee on Feb. 11. Hammer amended the bill and will present it to the committee again Thursday.
The Senate will vote Wednesday on another of Hammer’s bills, Senate Bill 207, which would require canvassers for ballot-measure petitions to inform potential signers that petition fraud is a criminal offense. The section of Arkansas code governing initiatives and referenda designates petition fraud a Class A misdemeanor.
Another section of Arkansas code designates petition fraud a Class D felony, which lawmakers pointed out during a Feb. 17 House State Agencies Committee hearing. House sponsor Rep. Kendon Underwood, R-Cave Springs, amended the bill to avoid confusion between the two statutes.
On Tuesday, the Senate State Agencies Committee voted to concur on the amendment to SB 207 and send it to the Senate floor.
Carol Egan, the only member of the public who testified in Tuesday’s committee meeting, said she opposed the bill because it would discourage participation in the ballot initiative process. She also questioned how it would be proven that someone violated the proposed law, noting that people opposed to a particular measure could derail it by saying that the canvasser hadn’t notified them that petition fraud is a criminal offense.
“I think this needs to be thought out a lot better, and I’m not even sure that it’s necessary,” Egan said.
The broadness of the term “criminal offense” allows prosecutors to apply a punishment appropriate to the crime, Hammer said.
“The applicable offense would be applied based on the severity of what they determined the person was doing,” he said. “So I think there’s a little bit of reason to keep it at the criminal offense level instead of making it something as harsh as a felony or as light as a misdemeanor.”
SB 207 passed the House Monday with 67 votes, the minimum required to pass the emergency clause. Seventeen of the 19 House Democrats, as well as nine Republicans, voted against SB 207.
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House action and new laws
Two more of Hammer and Underwood’s ballot initiative bills passed the House Tuesday, with one needing a second vote to pass the emergency clause.
Senate Bill 208 would require canvassers to request a photo ID from potential signers, and Senate Bill 211 would require canvassers to file a “true affidavit” with the secretary of state certifying they complied with the Arkansas Constitution and state laws related to canvassing, perjury, forgery and fraudulent practices in the procurement of petition signatures. Signatures submitted without the affidavit would not be counted.
Both bills passed the House State Agencies Committee twice on split voice votes. The committee heard nearly six hours of public testimony, mostly in opposition, before passing the bills Feb. 17 but needed to pass them again Monday after they were amended.
SB 208 received 70 votes for and 24 votes against it after no debate on the House floor. Four House members did not vote and two voted present.
SB 211 received 65 votes for and 27 against, with five members not voting and three voting present.
All 19 House Democrats voted against SB 211. House Minority Leader Andrew Collins, D-Little Rock, was the only lawmaker to comment on the bill before the vote.
Collins pointed out that state law already requires ballot question committees to submit an affidavit identifying paid canvassers by name and provide proof that the committee explained to canvassers the state’s laws for soliciting signatures and gave them the Secretary of State’s initiatives and referenda handbook before they started canvassing.
He also said the possible disqualification of all signatures collected by the same person would disincentivize people from signing petitions in case the canvasser did not sign the additional affidavit.
“They may not have done anything wrong when it comes to getting your signature — your signature may be perfectly valid — but it’ll be thrown out if this bill passes if the canvasser has any issue, even [on] a technicality,” Collins said. “…Of all of the bills, this one really warrants a closer look because what we’re doing here is going to chill direct democracy, and the people’s voice matters in Arkansas.”
The emergency clause on SB 211 received 69 votes. Democratic Rep. Jessie McGruder of Marion switched his vote from no to yes, and Republican Reps. Rick McClure of Malvern and Ron McNair of Alpena switched their votes from present to yes.
Rep. Cindy Crawford, R-Fort Smith, did not vote on the bill and voted for the emergency clause. Rep. Cameron Cooper, R-Romance, voted present on both.
Also on Tuesday, Sanders signed two other bills co-sponsored by Hammer that alter the ballot initiative process:
- Act 153 clarifies that the certification of ballot titles for initiatives, referenda and constitutional amendments as well as the signatures collected for those measures would only be valid for the next general election.
- Act 154 will expand the attorney general’s existing authority to reject a proposal if it conflicts with the U.S. Constitution or federal statutes. It will also prevent a sponsor from submitting more than one conflicting petition at the same time.
Act 153 has an emergency clause while Act 154 does not. Both bills went to Sanders’ desk last week.
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Deputy Editor Antoinette Grajeda contributed to this article.