Presumably this is going directly into the equivalent of a General Assembly trash can, but Rep. Errington has introduced HJR-1 which would institute a ballot initiative process in Indiana. I see chatter on political boards from time to time where citizens of Indiana see state constitutional amendments initiated by citizens in other states (lately abortion and marijuana seem to have been the big ones) and wonder why nobody does that here. It’s because our state’s constitution doesn’t allow such things where other state constitutions do.
I would be shocked to see it happen here. This constitutional amendment would allow citizens to propose statutes and constitutional amendments independent of the General Assembly. As written, such a proposal would require a petition with signatures from a number of Indiana voters equal to 2% of the voters who voted for Secretary of State in the last Secretary of State election. (That office is during a midterm election cycle, so the number would be lower than some other options — if my math is right, in 2022, there were about 1.85 million votes, meaning you’d need 37,000 signatures until the next election.)
If the new measure requires some kind of funding, it doesn’t go into effect until something happens (General Assembly or initiative) that appropriates the necessary funding. The governor can’t veto a measure and the General Assembly cannot repeal a statute passed by ballot initiative.
There’s a better chance of Rodric Bray and Todd Huston starting a tribute act to the Everly Brothers… than this even getting a hearing.
Power to the people! Ahhh not in my lifetime.