Montanans Decide, the committee sponsoring Constitutional Initiative 133, filed more than 100,000 signatures with county officials on June 18. Constitutional Initiative 133 would add the initiative and referendum power to the state's Declaration of Rights (Article II). It would provide that the "right guarantees impartial, predictable, transparent, and expeditious processes for proposing a ballot issue, qualifying a ballot issue for the ballot, and submitting a ballot issue to the qualified electors without interference from the government or the use of government resources to support or oppose the ballot issue."
The initiative provides that filing the full text and ballot summary; receiving a determination of legal sufficiency before being cleared for signature gathering; verifying signatures and petitions without the invalidation of a signature or petition due to a technical or minor deficiency; and resolving legal challenges to ballot issues prior to the deadline for finalizing ballots are all included in the right of initiative petitions. It would also provide a right to withdraw one’s signature from a petition as long as it's withdrawn before the deadline for submitting petitions. Six states — California, Idaho, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and Washington — allow individuals who have signed a ballot initiative petition to later withdraw their signatures.
Montana authorized the initiative and referendum power by approving a constitutional amendment in 1906. Montana was the fifth state to adopt a ballot initiative process. Currently, Articles III, IV, and XIV of the Montana Constitution govern the initiative process in the state.
