Why did the Arkansas AG reject the December 2023 Open Meetings and Open Records Act ballot title (BT-2)?
Apply this to your situation
This page answers the general question as of 2024. Ask about yours and see what current Arkansas law means for your facts, with citations you can check.
Plain-English summary
The sponsors submitted a revised proposed initiated act with four alternative popular names and ballot titles. Opinion 2023-128 addresses the version labeled “BT - 2.” The AG said the four submissions shared a problem and incorporated Opinion 2023-127 for his explanation of it.
He rejected the BT-2 popular name and ballot title and instructed the sponsors to redesign the proposed initiated act, popular name, and ballot title. He also incorporated the review standards in Opinion 2023-116. The opinion says the BT-2 materials are attached, although the official two-page PDF available from the opinion-search index contains only the opinion letter.
What this means for you
Ballot initiative sponsors
Read Opinion 2023-127 for the AG's explanation of the shared problem. Here he directs redesign of the initiated act and both ballot materials. The instruction does not limit the revisions to the proposed act's text.
Common questions
Where is the detailed reasoning?
In Opinion 2023-127, incorporated by reference into this opinion.
What did the AG direct the sponsors to change?
The proposed initiated act, popular name, and ballot title.
Citations
- A.C.A. § 7-9-107(e)
- Ark. Att'y Gen. Ops. 2023-116 and 2023-127 (incorporated by reference)
Source
Original opinion text
Opinion No. 2023-128
January 9, 2024
David A. Couch
1501 North University Avenue, Suite 219
Little Rock, Arkansas 72207
Jen Standerfer
2302 Southwest Nottingham Avenue
Bentonville, Arkansas 72713
Dear Mr. Couch and Ms. Standerfer:
I am writing in response to your request, made under A.C.A. § 7-9-107, that I certify the popular name and ballot title for a proposed initiated act. On December 18, 2023, in Opinion No. 2023-116, I addressed a prior version of your proposal. You have now revised the text of your proposal and submitted it with four different popular names and four different ballot titles. You ask that I certify all four submissions.
Your four submissions have the same problem. Since this problem is common to all four submissions, I provide a single opinion today—Opinion No. 2023-127—to explain the issue and why it prevents me from certifying your popular name and ballot title or substituting and certifying different ones.
This opinion addresses what you have labeled “BT - 2.” The popular name, ballot title, and text are attached. Opinion No. 2023-116 sets out the legal standards that govern my review and that govern whether popular names and ballot titles are misleading. Those standards are incorporated by reference into this opinion.
For the reason identified and explained in Opinion No. 2023-127, which is incorporated by reference into this opinion, I must reject your proposed popular name and ballot title labeled “BT - 2,” and instruct you to “redesign” your proposed initiated act, popular name, and ballot title.1
1
A.C.A. § 7-9-107(e).
Mr. David A. Couch
Ms. Jen Standerfer
Opinion No. 2023-128
Page 2
Deputy Attorney General Ryan Owsley prepared this opinion, which I hereby approve. Sincerely,
TIM GRIFFIN
Attorney General
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