Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to present law.
*SSS007* 03/06/2025 9:51:51 AM SSS007
State of Arkansas 1
95th General Assembly A Bill 2
Regular Session, 2025 SENATE BILL 398 3
4
By: Senator C. Tucker 5
By: Representative Wooldridge 6
7
For An Act To Be Entitled 8
AN ACT TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING INITIATIVE 9
PETITIONS AND REFERENDUM PETITIONS; TO ALLOW A CURE 10
PERIOD FOR INSUFFICIENT SUBMISSIONS; AND FOR OTHER 11
PURPOSES. 12
13
14
Subtitle 15
TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING 16
INITIATIVE PETITIONS AND REFERENDUM 17
PETITIONS; AND TO ALLOW A CURE PERIOD 18
FOR INSUFFICIENT SUBMISSIONS. 19
20
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: 21
22
SECTION 1. DO NOT CODIFY. Legislative findings. 23
The General Assembly finds that: 24
(1) When establishing the legislative branch of government in 25
the Arkansas Constitution, Article 5, the people of Arkansas reserved in the 26
first section of Arkansas Constitution, Article 5 the legislative powers of 27
initiative and referendum for themselves; 28
(2) Article 5, § 1 of the Arkansas Constitution specifically 29
states, in part, that the “first power reserved by the people is the 30
initiative” and the “second power reserved by the people is the referendum”; 31
(3) Article 5, § 1 of the Arkansas Constitution also 32
specifically states, in part, that “If the Secretary of State ... shall 33
decide any petition to be insufficient, he or she shall without delay notify 34
the sponsors of such petition, and permit at least thirty (30) days from the 35
date of such notification ... for correction or amendment”; and 36 SB398
2 03/06/2025 9:51:51 AM SSS007
(4) The General Assembly enacts this legislation to clarify the 1
intent and support the spirit of Arkansas Constitution, Article 5, § 1. 2
3
SECTION 2. Arkansas Code § 7 -9-111, concerning the determination of 4
the sufficiency of a petition, is amended to add an additional subsection to 5
read as follows: 6
(j)(1) If, while ascertaining and declaring the sufficiency or 7
insufficiency of a statewide initiative petition or statewide referendum 8
petition, or the signatures in support of such a petition, the Secretary of 9
State determines that the petition, or signatures in support of the petition, 10
are insufficient for any reason, the Secretary of State shall immediately 11
notify the sponsor in writing through his or her designated agent and shall 12
identify the insufficiency. 13
(2) The sponsor shall have thirty (30) days from the date of the 14
delivery of the notice from the Secretary of State to cure the insufficiency 15
identified under subdivision (j)(1) of this section to the Secretary of 16
State. 17
(3) The Secretary of State shall ascertain and declare the 18
sufficiency or insufficiency of each petition or signature resubmitted under 19
subdivision (j)(2) of this section within ten (10) days of the resubmission 20
of the petition or signature and notify the sponsor whether the resubmitted 21
petition or signature is sufficient or insufficient. 22
(4) If the Secretary of State determines that the petition or 23
any number of signatures resubmitted under subdivision (j)(2) of this section 24
are sufficient, he or she shall proceed with the processing of the petition 25
or with the counting of signatures that were not counted due to the 26
determination of insufficiency by the Secretary of State. 27
(5) For all signatures determined to be insufficient under 28
subdivision (j)(1) of this section, if feasible, the Secretary of State shall 29
also immediately notify an individual who signed the petition that his or her 30
signature was found to be insufficient. 31
32
SECTION 3. Arkansas Code § 7 -9-126(b), concerning verification of 33
signatures, is amended to read as follows: 34
(b) A Except as provided in § 7 -9-111(j), a petition part and all 35
signatures appearing on the petition part shall not be counted for any 36 SB398
3 03/06/2025 9:51:51 AM SSS007
purpose by the official charged with verifying the signatures, including the 1
initial count of signatures, if one (1) or more of the following is true: 2
3
SECTION 4. Arkansas Code § 7 -9-126(d), concerning the initial count of 4
signatures, is amended to read as follows: 5
(d) If Except as provided in § 7 -9-111(j), if the initial count of 6
signatures under this section is less than the designated number of 7
signatures required by the Arkansas Constitution and statutory law in order 8
to certify the measure for the ballot and the deadline for filing petitions 9
has passed, the official charged with verifying the signatures shall declare 10
the petition insufficient and shall not accept and file any additional 11
signatures to cure the insufficiency of the petition on its face. 12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36