Contact The Governor Today

Urge Governor Little to veto SB1110 and protect our initiative rights

SB1110, the bill to end grassroots ballot initiatives in Idaho, has officially passed the Senate and the House. It’s now the Governor’s decision to sign or veto. He has 5 days to decide.

SB1110 is surely the most unpopular bill in recent Idaho history.

The groundswell of opposition, all across the state, has been unprecedented. Records have been broken in signups for remote testimony at a Senate Committee, a House Committee, and the numbers of signatures on an online petition.

Our petition urging Governor Little to veto SB1110 now has over 17,000 signatures, from all 44 Idaho counties and 194 towns. It’s abundantly clear that Idahoans don’t want to see this bill signed into law.

Now, we must show Governor Little the full force of our opposition.

We need everyone who agrees with Idaho’s constitution — that all power is inherent in the people — to speak up.

Today, please do one of these things:

Call The Governor — 208-334-2100

Email The Governor—governor@gov.idaho.gov

Mail The Governor—State Capitol, PO Box 83720, Boise, ID 83720

And then share this post on social media and ask your friends to do the same.

It’s now or never — let’s stand up for our ballot initiative rights.

When you contact the Governor’s office, the most important thing is simply to let him know that you oppose Senate Bill 1110. Here are some additional things you might choose to mention:

• Senate Bill 1110 would make it virtually impossible for any grassroots initiative to qualify for the ballot. It is already extremely difficult to qualify an initiative for the ballot in Idaho. It requires signatures from 6% of registered voters in each of 18 districts. SB 1110 would make the process much, much harder by requiring 6% of signatures not just from 18 districts but from all 35 of Idaho’s districts.
• The ballot initiative is the constitutional right of every Idaho citizen. It’s a right that was enshrined in our state constitution over a century ago to give ordinary citizens a voice in their government. Senator Vick’s bill amounts to an attempt to revoke one of our most cherished constitutional rights.
• The 18-district requirement was established in 2013. In the 8 years since then, 15 initiatives have been attempted and only 2 made the ballot. 13 of 15 attempts were blocked under the current rules.
• The proponents of this bill are wrong to assert that rural voters don’t currently have a voice in the initiative process. The Medicaid Expansion initiative won the majority of votes in nearly every rural county in Idaho.
• Consider telling a brief personal story about why initiative rights are so important to you. If you have personal experience collecting signatures, consider mentioning how difficult it is to collect signatures from 6% of voters in a district.