Idaho legislators approve language for ballot measures on marijuana, English as official language

Members of the Idaho Legislature’s Legislative Council on Thursday approved the language that will be used to describe two proposed amendments to the Idaho Constitution that will go before voters during the November general election. 

The Legislative Council is a powerful group of Republican and Democratic leaders of the Idaho Legislature that is responsible for overseeing the management responsibilities of the Legislature.

The Legislative Council approved the ballot language for two proposed amendments that were put forward by Republican legislators.

• House Joint Resolution 4 would amend the Idaho Constitution so that only the Idaho Legislature has the authority to legalize marijuana and other narcotics. 

• House Joint Resolution 6 would amend the Idaho Constitution so that English would be the official state language of Idaho. 

It would take a simple majority of votes in the November general election to approve either proposed amendment to the Idaho Constitution.

Republicans changed some of the ballot language Democrats supported

Some Democrats objected to the language the Legislative Council approved, but were overruled by Republicans. 

House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, wanted to use the original language developed by the Idaho Legislative Services Office to describe the opposition House Joint Resolution 4.

I have concerns about this amendment,” Rubel said during Thursday’s meeting. “It stripped out a tremendous amount of pretty substantive material that it sounds like was reflective of a substantial amount of public input received by (the Legislative Services Office), and I would strongly prefer that we remain with the original version as drafted by (the Legislative Services Office).”

The language in opposition that was cut read, in part, “While legislators are supposed to represent the public, they don’t always pass laws reflective of public opinion. The initiative allows the public to bypass the Legislature and is therefore an important check on the Legislature’s power. However, the proposed amendment would give the Legislature total power over drug legalization.”

Rep. Josh Tanner, R-Eagle, made a successful substitute motion to go use the amended language that Rubel opposed. 

Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, also objected to making changes to the language used to describe the proposed constitutional amendments. 

“My deepest concern today is that the amount of wordsmithing that was done is a clear indication there was some fear about the truth of what the language was,” Wintrow said in a phone interview. 

Both proposed constitutional amendments will appear on Idaho ballots for the Nov. 3 general election.