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HB 2: Raising Hurdles on Citizen Initiatives — 2025

Summary: HB 2 would limit make it harder for Idahoans to pass an initiative or referendum on the ballot.

ICL's position: Oppose

Current Bill Status: House Committee

Issue Areas: Ballot Initiatives, State Issues

Official Legislative Site

For several years, Republicans in the statehouse have sought to restrict citizen initiatives and referendums. This year, Rep. Bruce Skaug (R-Nampa) is at it again.

House Bill 2 is not as bad as some previous efforts to restrict the voice of citizens, but it raises the threshold needed to approve an initiative from 50% to 60% of the peoples’ vote.

Since the time of Idaho’s founding, citizen initiatives and referendums have allowed the citizens of Idaho to effectively craft our own laws (initiatives), or repeal laws (referendums) enacted by the legislature. In 1889, the participants in the Idaho Constitutional Convention agreed that “[a]ll political power is inherent in the people.” In 1912, an amendment was ratified to clarify this power: “[t]he people reserve to themselves the power to propose laws … independent of the legislature.”

Currently, citizen initiatives can only qualify once supporters gather signatures from 6 percent of registered voters in 18 of Idaho’s 35 legislative districts, over the course of 18 months. The current rules are already very restrictive and only the most popular, well-funded and well-organized efforts realistically can qualify for a ballot.

In the past, citizen initiatives led to the establishment of the Idaho Fish and Game Commission in 1938 to try to remove political interference from wildlife-related decisions, and to approve the Dredge and Placer Mining Act in 1954, which regulated commercial dredge mining operations that were wreaking havoc on rivers and streams. The fact is that since 1912, only 15 initiatives have been successful. That’s an average of only one every 7 years. Idahoans have been judicious with their use of initiatives, and it remains an important part of our democratic framework.

After all, the Idaho Constitution does say, “All political power is inherent in the people.”