Constitution; amend to provide that the people have the right to propose new statutes and amend or repeal existing statutes.

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To: Constitution
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2026

By: Representatives Taylor, Sanders

HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 20

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION PROPOSING AMENDMENTS TO SECTIONS 33, 1
56, 61 AND 72, MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION OF 1890, TO PROVIDE THAT 2
THE PEOPLE RESERVE TO THEMSELVES THE RIGHT TO EXERCISE THE 3
LEGISLATIVE POWER OF THE STATE TO PROPOSE NEW LAWS AND TO AMEND OR 4
REPEAL EXISTING LAWS BY INITIATIVE, AND TO APPROVE OR REJECT THE 5
SAME IN AN ELECTION INDEPENDENT OF THE LEGISLATURE; AND FOR 6
RELATED PURPOSES. 7
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF 8
MISSISSIPPI, That the following amendments to the Mississippi 9
Constitution of 1890 are proposed to the qualified electors of the 10
state: 11
I. 12
Amend Section 33, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, to read 13
as follows: 14
Section 33. (1) The legislative power of this state shall 15
be vested in a Legislature which shall consist of a Senate and a 16
House of Representatives, but the people reserve to themselves the 17
right to exercise the legislative power of the state to propose 18
new laws and to amend or repeal existing laws by initiative, and 19
to approve or reject the same in an election independent of the 20
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Legislature, in the manner prescribed in and subject to the 21
provisions of this section. 22
(2) The initiative process shall not be used: 23
(a) For the proposal, modification or repeal of any 24
portion of the Bill of Rights of this Constitution; 25
(b) To amend or repeal any existing law relating to the 26
Mississippi Public Employees' Retirement System; 27
(c) To propose any new law or amend or repeal any 28
existing law that appropriates funds from the State Treasury; 29
(d) To amend or repeal the constitutional guarantee 30
that the right of any person to work shall not be denied or 31
abridged on account of membership or nonmembership in any labor 32
union or organization; or 33
(e) To amend or modify the initiative process for 34
proposing amendments to this Constitution. 35
(3) An initiative may be proposed by a petition signed over 36
a twelve-month period by qualified electors equal in number to at 37
least twelve percent (12%) of the votes for all candidates for 38
Governor in the last gubernatorial election. The signatures of 39
the qualified electors from any congressional district shall not 40
exceed the total number of signatures required to qualify an 41
initiative measure for placement on the ballot divided by the 42
number of congressional districts in existence on the day that the 43
petition is filed. If an initiative petition contains signatures 44
from a single congressional district that exceed the total number 45
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of required signatures, the excess signatures from that 46
congressional district shall not be considered by the Secretary of 47
State in determining whether the initiative measure qualifies for 48
placement on the ballot. 49
(4) The sponsor of an initiative shall identify in the text 50
of the initiative the amount and source of revenue required to 51
implement the initiative. If the provisions of an initiative 52
would cause a substantial cost to the state or require the 53
substantial expenditure of state funds, as determined according to 54
law by the Legislative Budget Office or any successor agency, the 55
sponsor also shall provide in the text of the initiative for the 56
specific funding source or mechanism to pay the cost of the 57
provisions of the initiative so that the initiative will not 58
result in a reduction in state funds available for expenditure by 59
the Legislature. If an initiative requires (a) a reduction in any 60
source of government revenue that would cause the amount of state 61
funds available for expenditure by the Legislature to be less than 62
the amount of state funds appropriated for the most recent fiscal 63
year, or (b) requires a reallocation of funding from currently 64
funded programs, the sponsor shall identify in the text of the 65
initiative the program or programs whose funding must be reduced 66
or eliminated to implement the initiative. 67
(5) The chief legislative budget officer shall prepare a 68
fiscal analysis of each initiative and each legislative 69
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alternative, and a summary of each fiscal analysis shall appear on 70
the ballot. 71
(6) The style of all initiative measures shall be: "Be it 72
enacted by the people of the State of Mississippi." 73
(7) The sufficiency of petitions shall be decided in the 74
first instance by the Secretary of State, subject to review by the 75
Supreme Court of the state, which shall have original and 76
exclusive jurisdiction over all such cases. 77
(8) If an initiative measure is certified by the Secretary 78
of State not less than ninety (90) days before a statewide general 79
election, the Secretary of State shall place the initiative 80
measure on the ballot for that statewide general election. If an 81
initiative measure is certified by the Secretary of State less 82
than ninety (90) days before a statewide general election, the 83
Secretary of State shall place the initiative measure on the 84
ballot for the next statewide general election occurring after the 85
upcoming statewide general election. 86
(9) No more than three (3) initiative proposals shall be 87
submitted to the votes on a single ballot, and the first three (3) 88
initiative proposals submitted to the Secretary of State with 89
sufficient petitions shall be the proposals which are submitted to 90
the voters. 91
(10) In order to be approved, an initiative must receive a 92
majority of the votes cast thereon and not less than forty percent 93
(40%) of the total votes cast at the election at which the 94
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initiative was submitted to be approved. If conflicting 95
initiatives are approved at the same election, the initiative 96
receiving the highest number of affirmative votes shall prevail. 97
(11) Initiative measures approved by the people shall not 98
require the signature of the Governor to become law and shall not 99
be subject to the veto power of the Governor. 100
(12) An initiative measure approved by the people shall not 101
be amended by the Legislature to make a substantive change to the 102
text in the measure, or repealed by the Legislature, for a period 103
of two (2) years after the initiative measure takes effect. 104
However, the Legislature may amend or repeal an initiative measure 105
less than two (2) years after the measure takes effect if the 106
Legislature determines the existence of an emergency affecting the 107
public peace, health, safety or financial solvency of the state 108
that necessitates the amendment or repeal of the initiative 109
measure, which emergency must be stated in the legislation, and 110
such amendment or repeal shall require a vote of three-fifths 111
(3/5) of each house present and voting. 112
(13) The Legislature shall provide by law the manner in 113
which initiative petitions shall be circulated, presented and 114
certified. To prevent signature fraud and to maintain the 115
integrity of the initiative process the state has a compelling 116
interest in ensuring that no person shall circulate an initiative 117
petition or obtain signatures on an initiative petition unless the 118
person is a resident of this state at the time of circulation. 119
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For the purposes of this subsection, the term "resident" means a 120
person who is domiciled in Mississippi as evidenced by an intent 121
to maintain a principal dwelling place in Mississippi indefinitely 122
and to return to Mississippi if temporarily absent, coupled with 123
an act or acts consistent with that intent. Every person who 124
circulates an initiative petition shall print and sign his or her 125
name on each page of an initiative petition, or on a separate page 126
attached to each page, certifying that he or she was a resident of 127
this state at the time of circulating the petition. The Secretary 128
of State shall refuse to accept for filing any page of an 129
initiative petition upon which the signatures appearing thereon 130
were obtained by a person who was not a resident of this state at 131
the time of circulating the petition, and an initiative shall not 132
be placed on the ballot if the Secretary of State determines that 133
without such signatures the petition clearly bears an insufficient 134
number of signatures. The provisions of this subsection (13) 135
shall be applicable to all initiative measures that have not been 136
placed on the ballot at the time this proposed amendment is 137
ratified by the electorate. 138
(14) An initiative approved by the electors shall take 139
effect thirty (30) days from the official declaration of the vote 140
by the Secretary of State, unless the measure provides otherwise. 141
(15) The Legislature may enact laws to carry out the 142
provisions of this section, but such laws shall in no way restrict 143
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or impair the provisions of this section or the exercise of the 144
rights reserved to the people in this section. 145
II. 146
Amend Section 56, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, to read 147
as follows: 148
Section 56. The style of the laws of the state that are 149
enacted by the Legislature shall be: "Be it enacted by the 150
Legislature of the State of Mississippi." 151
III. 152
Amend Section 61, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, to read 153
as follows: 154
Section 61. No law enacted by the Legislature or by 155
initiative of the people shall be revived or amended by reference 156
to its title only, but the section or sections, as amended or 157
revived, shall be inserted at length. 158
IV. 159
Amend Section 72, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, to read 160
as follows: 161
Section 72. Every Bill which shall pass both Houses shall be 162
presented to the Governor of the state. If he or she approve, he 163
or she shall sign it; but if he or she does not approve, he or she 164
shall return it, with his or her objections, to the House in which 165
it originated, which shall enter the objections at large upon its 166
Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such 167
reconsideration two-thirds (2/3) of that House shall agree to pass 168
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the Bill, it shall be sent, with the objections, to the other 169
House, by which, likewise, it shall be reconsidered; and if 170
approved by two-thirds (2/3) of that House, it shall become a law; 171
but in all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined 172
by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and 173
against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House 174
respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the Governor 175
within five (5) days (Sundays excepted) after it has been 176
presented to him or her, it shall become a law in like manner as 177
if he or she had signed it, unless the Legislature, by 178
adjournment, prevented its return, in which case such Bill shall 179
be a law unless the Governor shall veto it within fifteen (15) 180
days (Sundays excepted) after it is presented to him or her, and 181
such Bill shall be returned to the Legislature, with his or her 182
objections, within three (3) days after the beginning of the next 183
session of the Legislature. The provisions of this section are 184
not applicable to initiative measures approved by the people. 185
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That these proposed amendments shall 186
be submitted by the Secretary of State to the qualified electors 187
at an election to be held on the first Tuesday after the first 188
Monday of November 2026, as provided by Section 273 of the 189
Constitution and by general law, with the proposed amendments in 190
this resolution being voted on as one (1) amendment. 191
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the explanation of this proposed 192
amendment for the ballot shall read as follows: "This proposed 193
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ST: Constitution; amend to provide that the
people have the right to propose new statutes
and amend or repeal existing statutes.
constitutional amendment provides that the people reserve to 194
themselves the right to exercise the legislative power of the 195
state to propose new laws and to amend or repeal existing laws by 196
initiative, and to approve or reject the same in an election 197
independent of the Legislature." 198