Arkansas SB 614 makes it more difficult for initiatives to get on the ballot. On April 14 it passed the House. It had already passed the Senate, but because the two houses passed different versions of the bill, it still isn’t through the legislature.

It bans out-of-state circulators. Also it makes it illegal to pay circulators on a per-signature basis. And it forces initiative proponents to prove that none of their paid circulators have been convicted of a crime. The bill has an urgency clause, section 9, which says the “emergency” is that “criminal canvassers” are working in the state now, and approaching voters and getting personal information about them. Here is the text.

The vote in the Senate as 26-7, and in the House it was 72-18.