Which States Have Initiatives?
Which states have initiatives
Which states have initiatives: twenty-four US States permit States Initiatives. They are 70% of States needed to call for an Article V Convention; and 63% of States needed to ratify a Constitutional Amendment.
- Sixteen US States allow directly initiated (i.e., independent of the State Legislature) State constitutional amendments: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and South Dakota. They are the most important to initiate this Solution because no government authority (State or Federal) can override the People’s wishes.
- Two States allow indirect initiated (i.e., the Legislature can add an adjacent alternatively worded Initiative) State constitutional amendment: Massachusetts and Mississippi.
- Six States allow legislatively referred State statutes (i.e., the Legislature can change the Initiative’s wording): Alaska, Idaho, Maine, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
Each State has its own Initiative definitions, so the summary above is a simplified picture; for more details see references Courtesy © Wikipedia, Initiative & Referendum Institute at USC, and National Conference of State Legislators.