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The winding journey to get a ballot initiative passed in Wyoming

By
Jasmine Hall with the Jackson Hole News&Guide, via the Wyoming News Exchange

State residents face an uphill battle trying to create a law without the Legislature.
 
JACKSON — Since gaining the power to make laws through ballot initiatives, Wyoming residents have successfully done so only three times.
 
There have been 36 attempts since 1968. Seven petitions gained enough signatures to get the initiatives on the ballot, but ultimately voters approved three in the 1990s. Voters agreed to ban triple trailers, establish term limits for state elected officials and increase railroad regulation.
 
The last time an initiative made it from a petition to the ballot was in 1996. That’s a testament to the lengthy, complicated and expensive process.
 
More recently, failed attempts to get an initiative onto the ballot have aimed at legalizing medical marijuana, restricting political party changes for primary elections and calling on Congress to regulate political spending by businesses and corporations.
 
Now with escalating property taxes, a new initiative striving to reduce that burden on homeowners is finding a receptive audience.
 
The initiative would exempt 50% of the assessed value for property used as a primary residence at least six months of the year. The property owner would need to be a state resident for at least a year to qualify for the exemption. While some warn that it could slash funding for schools and other essential services, others like how it would potentially increase the tax burden on second-home owners while giving primary homeowners a break.
 
Former Republican gubernatorial candidate Brent Bien is spearheading the effort, along with co-applicants Cheryl Aguiar and Rich Weber. Aguiar led the charge on the second most-recent initiative, which aimed to restrict political party crossovers ahead of primary elections.
 
Although that initiative is dead, Aguiar still counts the drive as a success.
 
The Legislature passed a bill that was a near duplicate of the initiative, which ended crossover voting following the U.S. House seat primary race between incumbent Liz Cheney and Harriet Hageman. Republicans were frustrated that Democrats declared a different party in order to vote for Cheney.
 
Pressure on lawmakers
 
Aguiar, a Thermopolis canine trainer, credits the initiative with putting pressure on lawmakers after years of failed attempts to make the change.
 
“There’s four arms of the government: executive, legislative, the judicial and the people,” she said. “With the pressure it was a success, because it provided a percentage of leverage.”
 
But she said there were other factors, such as the Legislature having the will to pass the legislation and Secretary of State Chuck Gray testifying in support of it.
 
Since House Bill 103 followed the initiative language so closely, following through on the petitioning process wasn’t necessary. Ballot initiatives become void when the Legislature passes a similar law, which is what happened in the case of crossover voting.
 
Similar to Aguiar’s motivation in 2022, Bien is focused on property tax relief because he said lawmakers aren’t doing enough to pass laws to fix the problem. He said it’s time for Wyoming voters to take matters into their own hands.
 
“It’s all about trying to keep people in their home,” he said. “I think if this thing becomes law, people are going to be elated about that.”
 
The Secretary of State’s Office released a fiscal impact report in October that showed the initiative would exempt $132.4 million in tax year 2024 and increase the following years. None of the tax dollars go to the state’s general fund, but rather to school accounts, county and town governments, as well as special districts.
 
While there will be a revenue cut, Bien said he has worked closely with the Secretary of State’s Office, Attorney General’s Office and Legislative Service Office to ensure his ballot initiative is within the legal requirements. His goal is to get it on the 2024 general election ballot.
He’s made it to a pivotal point, but significant hurdles remain.
 
The process starts with a group of three citizens creating a committee, in this case Bien, Aguiar and Weber, to receive legal notices and pay any legally required costs.
 
The initial application costs $1,000, and there are thousands of dollars more to spend in the months after. Bien’s group paid an additional $3,000 to the Secretary of State’s Office for administrative services. The group also faces travel costs and advertising to garner support.
 

 
Language has to be right
 
But first Bien had to make sure the language he submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office was in “bill form,” meaning it met the same requirements legislators have to take into consideration when creating laws.
 
But there are extra restrictions for a ballot initiative. It can’t contain more than one subject, make or repeal appropriations or touch the judiciary branch. It can’t amend or go against anything prohibited in the Wyoming Constitution.
 
The initiative also can’t be substantially the same as one defeated by voters within the previous five years. Since an initiative hasn’t been on the ballot since 1996, this doesn’t apply currently.
 
It can take weeks to figure out the right way to word an initiative, and Bien and his co-organizers spent the fall of 2023 working with state agencies to come to an agreement.
 
As this is the second initiative Aguiar has worked on in the past few years, she recognizes the process is onerous. She called it hard, but she said she had mixed feelings about the many steps a resident has to go through.
 
“I live in a Republic; I do not live in a Democracy,” she said.
 
She said a ballot initiative works against the concept where elected officials represent the interests of their constituents. She’s relieved that the Constitution can’t be changed through an initiative and people can’t “just up and write a law.” She said if they could, citizens would “lose all sorts of rights.”
 
Once Bien submitted the application with his two fellow organizers, the Secretary of State’s Office had two weeks to schedule a conference and discuss any issues with the proposed initiative. It’s the first deadline of many in a process that can take more than two years.
 
Aguiar complimented the current Secretary of State’s Office for what she saw as improvements from when Ed Buchanan was secretary of state. She felt she was led astray by past Election Division officials when applying for the crossover voting initiative.
 
In contrast, the property tax group had countless meetings with Gray, his legal staff and the Department of Revenue, where they helped develop language and made sure it was in line with current statute.
 
“We went through the same process as a senator or a representative,” Aguiar said. “A very, very onerous process, but good because it was transparent.”
 
Rallying the state
 
Once there are no adjustments that need to be made, the work to rally the state begins.
 
Organizers have a month from the secretary of state approving the language to submit the names, signatures and addresses of 100 qualified registered voters to sponsor the initiative. Those sponsors may also be responsible for circulating petitions at a later date.
 
The secretary of state will then conditionally certify the application for the initiative.
 
Property tax reform advocates made it through those hoops in September when Gray certified their initiative. He said it was the people’s right to propose and enact laws to address fundamental issues, such as property tax limits.
 
Following certification, the residential property tax initiative group spent $3,000 to print petition books.
 
Bien and his team have 18 months — from Oct. 13, 2023, to April 13, 2025 — to get signatures, according to state law.
 
But Bien has a more ambitious goal. He wants to beat that legal deadline and get the initiative on the ballot for this year’s general election.
 
To do that he needs 29,730 signatures from registered voters before February in order to get on the 2024 ballot. Initiative organizers have to submit “registered voter signatures representing 15% of those who voted in the preceding general election, as well as 15% of those residents in at least two-thirds of Wyoming counties.”
 
This means 15% of those voting in the 2022 general election in at least 16 counties. The largest threshold to meet is in Laramie County at 4,532 signatures, and the lowest is 165 in Niobrara County.
 
Petition circulators for Bien have been reported across the state holding town halls, putting up tables at grocery stores and paying for ads. One ad in Albany County directed residents to register to vote at the Laramie Parks and Recreation Center at the same time as they signed the petition on Saturdays in December, as well as to sign the petition and register to vote at Dave’s Gun Shop.
 
The main challenge Aguiar said the group has struggled with is confirming a petition signer is a registered voter.
 
“The voter rolls are a mess. An absolute mess for a lot of reasons,” she said.
 
Aguiar said 3 out of 10 people, when asked if they are a registered voter say yes, and believe they are, when they actually aren’t. She said voter registration rolls are purged every two years, and many people aren’t aware.
 
“They have no clue they’re being purged,” Aguiar said.
 
Bien said he was assured by the Secretary of State’s Office that residents can register to vote before February and be counted as a qualified voter signature. He said the number of signatures necessary to get on the ballot is based on the 2022 general election, but they don’t need to have voted in 2022. The office will use February voter registration rolls.
 
He wouldn’t hand over the official signature count that his petition circulators have been updating, but he said there are many counties already done, one being Campbell County. Lincoln County was the first to meet its 1,144 threshold, and volunteers have been helping in Teton County.
 
But Bien has been keeping the Secretary of State’s Election Division updated.
 
The process depends heavily on how quickly bureaucratic work can get done. The Secretary of State’s Office wants to know if organizers will meet their goal, because Bien was told it plans to hire extra employees to come in to count and certify the nearly 30,000 signatures. It could be more if Bien’s desire to get all 23 counties becomes reality.
 
Bureaucratic hoops
 
Being able to certify the signatures faster would mean the ballot initiative language could get out to the public months in advance of the 2024 election.
 
“By the end of this month, I’ll have a much more accurate picture for the Secretary of State to say, ‘Yeah, let’s pull the trigger and get these guys in,’” Bien said mid-December. “We’re really shooting for a lot more than 30,000. I want to hold 23 counties at 50,000, and I think that’ll be a record. If we’re able to do it in four months.”
 
If he meets his objective and turns over petition books in February, the Secretary of State’s Office has 60 days to certify the signatures. Two months is the most time allotted to check whether petition signers are registered voters.
 
This has been one of the most difficult points for ballot initiative organizers since 1968, as only seven applicants have achieved it.
 
Officials could certify signatures before the two-month deadline is up, and then ballot language for the proposed law along with an estimated fiscal impact will be finalized.
 
Even after getting to this phase, it isn’t guaranteed the initiative will make it on the ballot. The Wyoming Constitution states that if before an election, a piece of legislation that is substantially similar to the initiative has been passed, the petition is void.
 
Bien doesn’t think lawmakers will achieve this before November 2024.
 
There also is an uphill battle when it comes to getting the right number of votes if it does make it on the ballot. The initiative is “enacted if it receives approval of more than 50% of those voting in the general election.” Skipping over the question on the ballot equals a no vote, which could contribute to it failing.
 
A majority of yes votes would mean crossing the finish line, and the law would go into effect 90 days after the results are certified. It couldn’t be vetoed by the governor or repealed by the Legislature within two years of its effective date.
 

 
In the dark
 
While there are protections from the law being thrown out in its entirety, one line in the Wyoming Constitution has raised questions. The law “may be amended at any time.”
 
The Secretary of State’s Office has not responded in detail to inquiries about how soon after passing a law could be amended and the extent to which it could be changed. The Legislature returns to the Capitol in early 2025 for a general session, and the law could be in effect by that point.
 
Gray has responded to questions about this by citing the Wyoming Constitution, which states: “An initiated law becomes effective ninety (90) days after certification, is not subject to veto, and may not be repealed by the legislature within two (2) years of its effective date. It may be amended at any time.”
 
Gray and the Attorney General’s Office have declined to elaborate on what “amended at any time” means or if there is any case law on ballot initiatives.
 
“I am not able to answer your questions, as it would be viewed as me offering legal advice to private parties, which I am not allowed to do,” Attorney General Bridget Hill said. “I’m sorry I can’t assist. Your best bet is to try the Secretary of State’s Office again or perhaps see if there are other online sources available explaining the process. Otherwise, you could seek the advice of your paper’s attorney.”
 
Bien has his own interpretation.
 
He believes changing the law entirely is fair game.
 
“They can go in and modify it, and if they do do that, we have a response for that,” he said. “Which I am going to keep under wraps right now.”
 
Bien said any attempts to amend the initiative would be unpopular with residents dealing with property tax hikes, and the governor would be on the line for supporting an amendment.
 
“The Legislature is going to have to really come to grips with itself if they really want to modify that, and really quell the hopes of a lot of folks who were hoping to stay in their homes,” he said. “But if they do, they do.”
 
Challenges possible
 
It also won’t surprise him if the law is challenged in court.
 
He said he has worked with the Secretary of State’s Office and Legislative Service Office to ensure it’s constitutional, but that doesn’t preclude anyone from pressing the issue. He said lawsuits are filed all the time now, and his initiative may be up for grabs if they don’t “like the numbers” or “what it stands for.”
 
Aguiar said the default today is, “If you can’t beat ’em, sue ’em.” But what intimidates her isn’t the threat of a lawsuit or the long line of failed attempts since 1968. She said the fight comes down to the media.
 
“I’m not going to compare our project to Donald Trump, but in a way I am going to compare our project to Donald Trump,” she said. “The media is attacking this.”
 
Aguiar said media outlets in Wyoming give more time to critics of the property tax exemption and let them present “misinformation, disinformation and ... outright lies.” She said thousands of residents are at risk of losing their homes right now, and even she is struggling to pay the rising property tax bills.
 
She is afraid there is “big money that will probably go against this,” yet she has faith in citizens pushing for the initiative statewide.
 
“People are losing their homes, and all the government wants is more,” she said. “We’re supposed to feel sorry for them? What about the people?”
 
This story was published on January 17, 2024. 
 
 
Step-by-step
 
Form a committee of three people to develop the application for the ballot initiative, which will be the contacts, served with legal notices and responsible for statutory fees and costs.
 
Write the initiative in bill form and follow constitutional guidelines.
 
Organizers file an application to the secretary of state for review and pay $1,000. The secretary of state has two weeks to schedule a conference with the three residents to discuss the initiative and any issues with format or content.
 
If the Legislature is in session at the time, the conference will be held within 10 days after it adjourns.
 
Organizers have five days after the conference to notify the secretary of state if the initiative will be amended. Any changes trigger another 14-day review and comment period.
 
If there are no changes, organizers have 30 days to submit 100 “qualified electors” as sponsors of the final version.
 
Once sponsors are secured, the secretary of state can conditionally certify the initiative or deny it and notify organizers in writing of the reason.
 
The secretary of state will develop a petition form after approving the initiative and arrange for printing in sufficient numbers for statewide distribution. The applicants must pay for the printing.
 
Once petition books are printed, the committee has 18 months to get thousands of signatures.
 
Organizers must submit registered voter signatures representing 15% of those who voted in the preceding general election and 15% of those residents in at least two-thirds of Wyoming counties, which currently is 29,730 signatures in 16 counties.
 
Only qualified sponsors and circulators may distribute petitions, and only qualified registered voters can sign. The circulator and petition signers could face both fines and jail time if they file false affidavits, sign more than once, sign someone else’s name or don’t meet the qualifications.
 
Once the signatures are turned in, the secretary of state has 60 days to tell the committee whether enough valid signatures have been obtained.
If enough residents sign the petition, ballot language will be drafted. An estimated fiscal impact also will appear on the ballot.
 
Organizers must file contributions and expenditures when the petition process is done, similar to political campaign finance reports.
 
The ballot item will go to voters during the first statewide general election held more than 120 days after the adjournment of the legislative session. However, if the Legislature passes a substantially similar law before the election, then the initiative is void.
 
To become law, the ballot initiative must receive more than 50% yes votes. If voters leave the item blank, that counts as a no vote. If passed by voters, the law would take effect 90 days after election results are certified. The governor cannot veto the law, and the Legislature can’t repeal it for two years, but lawmakers may amend it at any time.

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