Little Rock, Arkansas – The goal of a bill submitted to the state capitol is to grant the attorney general the authority to declare a ballot initiative unlawful before signatures are gathered.
At the moment, only the courts have the authority to decide what is unconstitutional.
Representative David Ray, the measure’s sponsor, stated that the goal of the law is to address that problem up front rather than after groups have worked to get signatures.
“We regularly ask the attorney general to weigh in on matters of constitutionality, so I would argue that the Ag’s office has ample resources to determine the constitutionality of this,” Ray stated.
The bill and the power the attorney general would get as a result of it were questioned by Representative Andrew Collins.
“You’re essentially turning the attorney general into a court that interprets constitutional law, which isn’t the right role for the AG,” Collins stated, “and it really seems to me like a clear violation of the separation of powers.”
