Judges: MIKE BEEBE, Attorney General
Filed Date: 4/5/2004
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
Mr. Rory D. McWhorter 15200 Russell Road Siloam Springs, AR 72761 Dear Mr. McWhorter:
This is in response to your request for certification, pursuant to A.C.A. §
Having reviewed your proposed constitutional amendment, ballot title, and popular name pursuant to this authority, it is my determination that your submission must be rejected because it does not fall within the power of initiative under Amendment
``[t]he voters of this state essentially have, within constitutional limits, a right to change any law or any provision of our Constitution they deem appropriate through Amendment 7 to the Constitution.' Dust v. Riviere,
277 Ark. 1 ,4 ,638 S.W.2d 663 ,665 (1982) (emphasis added). Clearly those constitutional limitations derive from both the United States Constitution and this state's constitution. On the federal level, the rights reserved to the states and to the people of the states originate from theTenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which provides that ``[t]he powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.' Thus, our Amendment 7 cannot empower the people of this state to initiate any measure, law, or amendment which falls outside the powers reserved to the states and their citizens by the United States Constitution.
Applying this principle to your proposed amendment, I must conclude that Ark. Const. amend.
The congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the congress[.]
U.S. Const., art.
The word "legislatures" as used in this so-called "proposal clause" has been held to refer to the legislative bodies of the states, and not to the people through the initiative. See Donovan, supra (and cases discussed therein). It thus seems clear that Amendment
Sincerely,
MIKE BEEBE Attorney General
MB:cyh