On the evening of June 1, the Nevada legislature passed SB 212, which provides for a distribution requirement for statewide initiatives. For 2010, the bill would provide that a substantial number of signatures come from each of the three U.S. House districts. Afterwards, the legislature will be drawing an unspecified number of districts that apply only to the initiative petition procedure.
Most states with the initiative do not have distribution requirements. When a bill passes a legislature, no one worries about whether the legislators who vote for the bill represent all sections of the state. The only thing that matters is whether it receives a majority of the vote in that legislative chamber. Also, when a bill is introduced in a legislature, no state requires that the bill be co-sponsored by legislators from diverse ends of the state. By analogy, then, one wonders why only initiatives are required to show support in all ends of a state.
One does not wonder. One knows.
If a constitutional convention were called, it would require the support of legislatures in 2/3 of the States.
For a constitutional amendment to be proposed would require the support of both senators from 1/3 of States even if there was support from 1 senator from every State. Even if it had the support of both senators from half the States, it would need another senator from each of 68% of the remaining states.
And if a constitutional amendment were proposed for ratification by convention, it would essentially require support from voters in 3/4 of the States since the sole issue in the election of the convention delegates would be whether or not they supported the proposed amendment.
The Nevada legislature also passed AJR 1 which proposed an amendment to the Nevada constitution that would require 10% support from each “petition district” established by the legislature. In Nevada, amending the Constitution requires approval by two consecutive legislatures before going before the People. So AJR 1 would also need approval by the legislature in 2011 and the voters in 2012.
SB 212 is somewhat of a stopgap since it provides an alternative to the current provision in the Nevada Constitution, which requires 10% of signatures in 3/4 of the (currently 17) counties. That provision was overturned by the 9th Circuit. A previous legislative stopgap was overturned by a federal district court.
SB 212 was approved by the Senate on Sunday afternoon, after being amended to replace congressional district with “petition district”. It was approved by a House committee at 10:45 pm on Sunday night, and then on Monday, the last day of the session, was amended by the House before returning to Senate for concurrence on the house amendment.