Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of Iowa relating to citizen initiatives to amend the Constitution of the State of Iowa

8 This joint resolution proposes an amendment to the Constitution of the State of Iowa relating to citizen initiatives to amend the Constitution of the State of Iowa. The amendment allows a petitioner who collects a number of signatures from qualified electors equal to 10 percent of the total number of ballots cast for governor in the last gubernatorial election, including signatures from a number of qualified electors from at least one-half of all counties in this state equal to 5 percent of the total number of ballots cast for governor in the last gubernatorial election in that county, to submit the proposed constitutional amendment to the secretary of state for submission to the electorate at a general election. The amendment allows a petitioner to include with a proposed constitutional amendment an argument of no more than 300 words in support of a proposed constitutional amendment. The amendment requires the general assembly, or the governor if the general assembly is not in session, to appoint a person to submit an argument of no more than 300 words in opposition to the constitutional amendment. The amendment requires the proposed constitutional amendment, along with the arguments for and against the proposed constitutional amendment, to be published in the same manner as a constitutional amendment proposed by the general assembly. For proposed constitutional amendments that violate certain principles enumerated in the resolution’s amendment, the resolution’s amendment requires electors to both approve the right of the petitioner to propose the constitutional amendment and to approve the proposed constitutional amendment. The proposed constitutional amendment only takes effect upon the approval of both questions by a majority of qualified electors casting votes thereon. 8 and exclusive jurisdiction over challenges to petitions and signatures for constitutional amendments proposed by initiative. The amendment creates a timeline for the challenge of petitions and signatures, the resolution of such challenges, and the curing of insufficient petitions. The resolution, if adopted, would be published and then referred to the next general assembly (92nd) for adoption, before being submitted to the electorate for ratification.