ballot measures

Legislation making it more difficult to get initiatives or referendums on ballots is heading to the governor, who has hinted of a possible veto. The House voted 51-18 on Wednesday to approve the measure backers said is needed because the current process favors urban voters. It passed the Senate 26-9 last month. Those numbers are enough to overcome a veto.

An Idaho House panel approved legislation Monday making it more difficult to get initiatives or referendums on ballots in what is widely seen as a rural vs. urban issue.

The move challenges a long tradition of leaving wildlife management to governments, not the public. But the vote was narrow, reflecting many people's serious concerns about bringing wolves back.

On Thursday, the state Supreme Court struck down Initiative 976, a measure Washington voters approved last November to reduce the cost of annual vehicle licensing fees. The measure has been on hold for nearly a year as legal challenges worked their way through the court system.

The U.S. Supreme Court has put a halt to the Reclaim Idaho K-12 initiative drive. Thursday’s ruling represents a legal victory for Gov. Brad Little and Secretary of State Lawerence Denney, who requested a stay of a lower court ruling allowing Reclaim Idaho to gather online signatures for its “Invest in Idaho” initiative.

Gov. Brad Little still wants to see Idaho schools reopen next month — but he’s not sure that can happen in the state’s coronavirus hotspots. “I think the answer is, it depends,” Little said during a news conference Thursday morning, one day after the state reported its highest one-day death toll from the coronavirus outbreak.

It will be up to the Ninth Circuit to decide whether Reclaim Idaho can continue gathering online signatures in a final attempt to get its K-12 initiative on November’s ballot. Reclaim Idaho suspended face-to-face signature gathering on March 18 — a few days after the state reported its first cases of coronavirus.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little wants the U.S. Supreme Court to stop Reclaim Idaho from gathering signatures online, as the group tries to get its education funding initiative on November’s ballot.

A review of Washington’s initiative history reveals that not since 1928 has the November ballot been bereft of an initiative to the people in a year when voters were electing a president.

Idaho’s signature gathering window was interrupted in mid-March due to coronavirus restrictions. Now, Reclaim Idaho hopes to put a public school funding initiative on the November ballot by asking a federal judge for extra time to collect signatures.