Did the Arkansas Attorney General certify Thomas Steele’s proposed term-limits title for petition circulation?

Plain-English summary

Thomas E. Steele submitted a proposed constitutional amendment called the “Arkansas Term Limits Amendment.” Attorney General Leslie Rutledge certified its popular name and ballot title as sufficient. She said they were the same as those approved in Opinion 2016-080 for a virtually identical proposal. The certification addressed the petition wording, not the proposal's merits or whether it would reach a ballot.

The proposed title described limits of three two-year House terms, two four-year Senate terms, and ten total years of General Assembly service. It said full years of any partial term won in a special election would count toward that total. It also proposed repealing the sixteen-year limit in Section 2(c) of Amendment 73, applying its limits to legislative service on and after January 1, 1993, and ending the General Assembly's authority to propose constitutional changes regarding legislative term limits.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2016. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

What this means for you

Petition sponsors

The AG found the proposed title sufficient for circulation and required instructions to canvassers and signers to precede every petition. This opinion does not establish that signatures were collected, that the proposal qualified for an election, or that voters adopted it.

Voters and researchers

Treat the term limits described here as provisions of a proposed amendment. The opinion certifies how the proposal was described to petition signers; it makes no ruling on whether those proposed limits became law.

Common questions

Q: Did the AG certify Steele's proposed popular name and ballot title? A: Yes. She found them sufficient and certified them as submitted.

Q: Did that put the amendment on an election ballot? A: The opinion does not say so. It addresses certification before petition circulation and does not decide later qualification or voter approval.

Q: Was this the same wording considered in another AG opinion? A: The AG said the popular name and ballot title were the same as those approved in Opinion 2016-080 for a virtually identical term-limits proposal.

Q: Did the AG approve the proposed limits as policy? A: No. She expressly said certification reflected no view on the proposal's merits.

Background and statutory framework

Ark. Code Ann. § 7-9-107 requires the AG to review proposed popular names and ballot titles before initiative petitions circulate. The AG can certify, substitute suitable wording, or reject misleading wording. Her review asks whether the wording fairly and intelligibly summarizes the proposal. Under Ark. Code Ann. § 7-9-108, instructions to canvassers and signers must precede each petition.

Citations and references

Statutes: Ark. Code Ann. § 7-9-107; Ark. Code Ann. § 7-9-108; Ark. Code Ann. § 7-5-309.

Related AG opinion: Opinion 2016-080, expressly identified by the AG as approving the same title for a virtually identical measure.

Source

• Landing page: https://arkansasag.gov/divisions/opinions-foia/attorney-general-opinions-search/

Original opinion text

Opinion No. 2016-105
October 28, 2016
STATE OF ARKANSAS
ATTORNEY GENERAL
LESLIE RUTLEDGE
Mr. Thomas E. Steele, Sponsor
9 Gravelle Drive
Little Rock, AR 72223
Dear Mr. Steele:

I am writing in response to your request for certification, pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 7-9-107 (Supp. 2015), of the popular name and ballot title for a proposed initiated measure.

At the outset, I wish to make clear to you that the decision to certify or reject a popular name and ballot title is in no way a reflection of my view of the merits of a particular proposal. I am not authorized to, and do not consider the merits of the measure when making my determination to certify or reject a popular name and ballot title.

The Attorney General is required, pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 7-9-107, to certify the popular name and ballot title of all proposed initiative and referendum acts or amendments before the petitions are circulated for signature. The law provides that the Attorney General may, if practicable, substitute and certify a more suitable and correct popular name and ballot title. Or, if the proposed popular name and ballot title are sufficiently misleading, the Attorney General may reject the entire petition.

Section 7-9-107 neither requires nor authorizes this office to make legal determinations concerning the merits of the act or amendment, or concerning the likelihood that it will accomplish its stated objective. In addition, consistent with Arkansas Supreme Court precedent, unless the measure is "clearly contrary to law," this office will not require that a measure's proponents acknowledge in the ballot title any possible constitutional infirmities. Consequently, this review has been limited primarily to a determination, pursuant to the guidelines that have been set forth by the Arkansas Supreme Court, discussed below, of whether the popular name and ballot title you have submitted accurately and impartially summarize the provisions of your proposal.

The purpose of my review and certification is to ensure that the popular name and ballot title honestly, intelligibly, and fairly set forth the purpose of the proposed amendment or act.

REQUEST

You have requested certification, pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 7-9-107, of the following popular name and ballot title for a proposed constitutional amendment:

Popular Name
ARKANSAS TERM LIMITS AMENDMENT

Ballot Title
A proposed amendment to the Arkansas Constitution concerning term limits for members of the Arkansas General Assembly; to provide that no person may be elected to more than three (3) two-year terms as a member of the House of Representatives, to more than two (2) four-year terms as a member of the Senate, or to any term that, if served, would cause the member to exceed a total of ten (10) years of service in the General Assembly; to repeal Section 2(c) of Amendment 73 that established a years-of-service limit on members of the General Assembly of sixteen (16) years; to provide that the ten-year service limit shall include all two (2) and four (4) year terms, along with full years of any partial term served as a result of a special election to fill a vacancy; to apply the limits to terms and service in the General Assembly on and after January 1, 1993; to provide that this amendment shall not cut short or invalidate a term to which a member of the General Assembly was elected prior to the effective date of this amendment; to provide that notwithstanding the General Assembly's constitutional authority to propose amendments to the Constitution, the General Assembly shall not have the authority to propose an amendment to the Constitution regarding term limits for the House of Representatives or Senate, and to continue reserving that power to the people under Article 5, Section 1, as amended by Amendment 7; and to declare that if any provision of this amendment should be held invalid, the remainder shall stand.

RESPONSE

The popular name is primarily a useful legislative device. It need not contain detailed information or include exceptions that might be required of a ballot title, but it must not be misleading or give partisan coloring to the merit of the proposal. The popular name is to be considered together with the ballot title in determining the ballot title's sufficiency.

The ballot title must include an impartial summary of the proposed amendment or act that will give the voter a fair understanding of the issues presented. According to the Court, a ballot title will not be legally sufficient unless it "adequately inform[s]" the voters of the contents of a proposed amendment or act so that they can make a "reasoned decision in the voting booth." A ballot title's failure to "honestly and accurately reflect what is contained in the proposed [act or] Amendment" may lead the Court to conclude that the "omission is significant." The Court has also disapproved the use of terms that are "technical and not readily understood by voters." Without a definition of such terms in the ballot title, the title may be deemed insufficient.

Additionally, if information omitted from the ballot title is an "essential fact which would give the voter serious ground for reflection, it must be disclosed." At the same time, however, a ballot title must be brief and concise; otherwise voters could run afoul of Ark. Code Ann. § 7-5-309's five-minute limit in voting booths when other voters are waiting in line. The ballot title is not required to be perfect, nor is it reasonable to expect the title to cover or anticipate every possible legal argument the proposed measure might evoke. The title, however, must be "free of any misleading tendency whether by amplification, omission, or fallacy, and it must not be tinged with partisan coloring." The ballot title must be honest and impartial, and it must convey an intelligible idea of the scope and significance of a proposed change in the law.

Furthermore, the Court has confirmed that a proposed measure cannot be approved if the text of the proposal itself contributes to confusion and disconnect between the language in the popular name and the ballot title and the language in the proposed measure. The Court concluded that "internal inconsistencies would inevitably lead to confusion in drafting a popular name and ballot title and to confusion in the ballot title itself." Where the effects of a proposed measure on current law are unclear or ambiguous, it is impossible for me to perform my statutory duty to the satisfaction of the Arkansas Supreme Court without (1) clarification or removal of the ambiguities in the proposal itself, and (2) conformance of the popular name and ballot title to the newly worded proposal.

Applying the above precepts, it is my conclusion that your proposed popular name and ballot title are sufficient and they are therefore certified as submitted. This popular name and ballot title are the same as those approved by this office in Attorney General Opinion 2016-080, for a virtually identical proposed term-limits amendment.

Pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 7-9-108, instructions to canvassers and signers must precede every petition, informing them of the privileges granted by the Arkansas Constitution and of the associated penalties for violations. Enclosed herewith are instructions that should be incorporated in your petition prior to circulation.

Sincerely,

LESLIE RUTLEDGE
Attorney General

Enclosures