Legislation that would require initiative-petition efforts to gather signatures from Oklahomans across the state has cleared another legislative hurdle, easily winning approval in a state House committee.
“The integrity of our election system is essential for our democracy to survive and thrive, and that’s what this legislation is about,” said House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow.
Senate Bill 1027, by state Sen. David Bullard and Hilbert, includes several transparency reforms.
The bill requires that the gist of a proposition (the description of a proposed ballot measure provided to voters) use simple language that clearly describes the proposal and avoids jargon understood by only a subset of the population.
The bill also requires that those gathering signatures be Oklahoma registered voters, and signature gatherers must publicly reveal if they are paid by outside entities to circulate a petition and identify their funders.
SB 1027 requires that those who sign a petition must first read the full ballot title for the proposed measure.
The bill requires gists to clearly state whether an initiative petition will have a fiscal impact that could require either a tax increase or the diversion of funds from other uses.
And the legislation requires that initiative petitions receive signatures from Oklahomans across the state, not only those living within a few concentrated areas. That has been one of the more contentious reforms in the bill.
SB 1027 was amended in the House committee to cap the number of signatures gathered from any one county.
Under the amended bill, signatures equal to no more than 11.5 percent of the votes cast in any county during the most recent statewide general election may be collected for a petition to change state law.
If a petition would amend the Oklahoma Constitution, the maximum number of signatures that may be gathered from any one county cannot exceed 20.8 percent of the number of votes cast in the county during the most recent statewide general election.
Hilbert noted that imposes the same standard for all counties, addressing a concern raised by critics of an earlier version of the bill.
Hilbert said the bill will “make sure that everyone doesn’t just gather all of the signatures in two counties,” saying the current initiative-petition process effectively disenfranchises Oklahoma voters living outside the state’s two highest-population areas.
SB 1027 has drawn opposition from Oklahoma United, a group seeking to have Oklahoma’s election system changed to largely mirror California elections.
“Right now, the current statute takes away the right to the initiative-petition process for those in more rural counties, because they are not offered the opportunity to engage in the process because it’s engaged in the two metros exclusively,” Hilbert said.
State Rep. Danny Williams, R-Seminole, spoke in support of the bill, saying his constituents “don’t want people coming in from someplace else, gathering signatures or anything else.”
“We want to be able to make those decisions based on what Oklahomans want for Oklahoma,” Williams said.
State Rep. Mickey Dollens, D-Oklahoma City, opposed the legislation, claiming it will “pretty much guarantee that any future citizen-led ballot initiative will have an impossibility of making it to the ballot.”
The measure has also drawn opposition from Oklahoma United, a group seeking to have Oklahoma’s election system changed to largely mirror California elections, which has a system that often limits voters’ November choices to two Democrats and no Republicans.
Margaret Kobos, founder of Oklahoma United, has decried SB 1027’s transparency provisions as a “step backward for democracy.”
SB 1027 passed the House Elections and Ethics Committee on a 6-1 vote.