The Mississippi House of Representatives passed a proposed constitutional amendment that would create a new state initiative and referendum process. On Jan. 24, the constitutional amendment, House Concurrent Resolution 11, was passed 80-39. Among House Republicans, 78 voted ‘Yes’ and one voted ‘No’. Among House Democrats, 38 voted ‘No’ and one voted ‘Yes’. The one independent representative voted ‘Yes’. If approved by the Senate, the proposal would be placed on the Nov. 2024 ballot for voters to consider.
Mississippi’s initiative process, which was first created in 1992, was invalidated by the Mississippi Supreme Court in 2021. The 1992 constitutional amendment granting the power of citizen initiative in Mississippi required signatures to be collected evenly from five congressional districts. It mandated no more than one-fifth of the required signatures could be collected from any single congressional district. During 2001 redistricting after the 2000 census, however, the number of congressional districts in the state was reduced to four.
On May 14, 2021, the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned Initiative 65, a voter-approved medical marijuana initiative. The ruling stated that the initiative petition did not comply with the signature distribution requirements in the Mississippi Constitution and that it is impossible for any petition to meet the requirements and has been impossible since congressional reapportionment in 2001.
