Constitution; amend Section 273 to reinstate initiative process and revise initiative signature requirements.

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To: Elections
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2026

By: Senator(s) Blackmon

SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 517

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO SECTION 1
273, MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION OF 1890, TO REINSTATE THE INITIATIVE 2
PROCEDURE DECLARED INVALID BY THE MISSISSIPPI SUPREME COURT; TO 3
BASE THE NUMBER OF SIGNATURES REQUIRED FOR AN INITIATIVE PETITION 4
ON THE NUMBER OF REGISTERED VOTERS; TO CONFORM THE PRO RATA 5
SIGNATURE REQUIREMENTS FROM EACH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT FOR AN 6
INITIATIVE PETITION TO THE NUMBER OF CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS AT 7
THE TIME THE INITIATIVE IS FILED; TO SPECIFY THAT PETITION 8
SIGNATURE REQUIREMENTS SHALL INCLUDE HOME ADDRESS; AND TO PROVIDE 9
THAT ONLY ONE PROPOSAL OF LAW AND MATTERS PROPERLY CONNECTED 10
THEREWITH SHALL BE CONTAINED IN AN INITIATIVE PETITION TO ENABLE 11
THE ELECTORS TO VOTE ON THAT PROPOSAL SEPARATELY. 12
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF 13
MISSISSIPPI, That the following amendment to the Mississippi 14
Constitution of 1890 is proposed to the qualified electors of the 15
state: 16
Amend Section 273, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, to read 17
as follows: 18
Section 273. (1) Amendments to this Constitution may be 19
proposed by the Legislature or by initiative of the people. 20
(2) Whenever two-thirds (2/3) of each house of the 21
Legislature, which two-thirds (2/3) shall consist of not less than 22
a majority of the members elected to each house, shall deem any 23
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change, alteration or amendment necessary to this Constitution, 24
such proposed amendment, change or alteration shall be read and 25
passed by two-thirds (2/3) vote of each house, as herein provided; 26
public notice shall then be given by the Secretary of State at 27
least thirty (30) days preceding an election, at which the 28
qualified electors shall vote directly for or against such change, 29
alteration or amendment, and if more than one (1) amendment shall 30
be submitted at one (1) time, they shall be submitted in such 31
manner and form that the people may vote for or against each 32
amendment separately; and, notwithstanding the division of the 33
Constitution into sections, the Legislature may provide in its 34
resolution for one or more amendments pertaining and relating to 35
the same subject or subject matter, and may provide for one or 36
more amendments to an article of the Constitution pertaining and 37
relating to the same subject or subject matter, which may be 38
included in and voted on as one (1) amendment; and if it shall 39
appear that a majority of the qualified electors voting directly 40
for or against the same shall have voted for the proposed change, 41
alteration or amendment, then it shall be inserted as a part of 42
the Constitution by proclamation of the Secretary of State 43
certifying that it received the majority vote required by the 44
Constitution; and the resolution may fix the date and direct the 45
calling of elections for the purposes hereof. 46
(3) The people reserve unto themselves the power to propose 47
and enact constitutional amendments by initiative. An initiative 48
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to amend the Constitution may be proposed by a petition signed 49
over a twelve-month period by qualified electors equal in number 50
to at least * * * forty percent (40%) of * * * registered voters. 51
The qualified electors signing the initiative petition shall 52
include their full printed name, signature, home address and 53
county of residence. The signatures of the qualified electors 54
from any congressional district shall not exceed * * * the total 55
number of signatures required to qualify an initiative petition 56
for placement upon the ballot divided by the number of 57
congressional districts in existence on the day the petition is 58
filed. If an initiative petition contains signatures from a 59
single congressional district which exceed * * * the total number 60
of required signatures, the excess number of signatures from that 61
congressional district shall not be considered by the Secretary of 62
State in determining whether the petition qualifies for placement 63
on the ballot. 64
(4) Every such petition shall include the full text of the 65
measure so proposed, and the petition shall be filed with the 66
Secretary of State not less than four (4) months before the 67
election at which they are to be voted upon. The Secretary of 68
State, with the advice and consent of the Attorney General, shall 69
determine whether or not the petition is properly written as a 70
constitutional amendment and shall certify the initiative. 71
( * * *5) The sponsor of an initiative shall identify in the 72
text of the initiative the amount and source of revenue required 73
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to implement the initiative. If the initiative requires a 74
reduction in any source of government revenue, or a reallocation 75
of funding from currently funded programs, the sponsor shall 76
identify in the text of the initiative the program or programs 77
whose funding must be reduced or eliminated to implement the 78
initiative. Compliance with this requirement shall not be a 79
violation of the subject matter requirements of this section of 80
the Constitution. 81
(6) Only one (1) proposal of law and matters properly 82
connected therewith shall be contained in an initiative petition 83
to enable the electors to vote on that proposal separately. 84
( * * *7) The initiative process shall not be used: 85
(a) For the proposal, modification or repeal of any 86
portion of the Bill of Rights of this Constitution; 87
(b) To amend or repeal any law or any provision of the 88
Constitution relating to the Mississippi Public Employees' 89
Retirement System; 90
(c) To amend or repeal the constitutional guarantee 91
that the right of any person to work shall not be denied or 92
abridged on account of membership or nonmembership in any labor 93
union or organization; or 94
(d) To modify the initiative process for proposing 95
amendments to this Constitution. 96
( * * *8) The Secretary of State shall file with the Clerk 97
of the House and the Secretary of the Senate the complete text of 98
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the certified initiative on the first day of the regular session. 99
A constitutional initiative may be adopted by a majority vote of 100
each house of the Legislature. If the initiative is adopted, 101
amended or rejected by the Legislature; or if no action is taken 102
within four (4) months of the date that the initiative is filed 103
with the Legislature, the Secretary of State shall place the 104
initiative on the ballot for the next statewide general election. 105
The Chief Legislative Budget Officer shall prepare a fiscal 106
analysis of each initiative and each legislative alternative. A 107
summary of each fiscal analysis shall appear on the ballot. 108
( * * *9) If the Legislature amends an initiative, the 109
amended version and the original initiative shall be submitted to 110
the electors. An initiative or legislative alternative must 111
receive a majority of the votes thereon and not less than forty 112
percent (40%) of the total votes cast at the election at which the 113
measure was submitted to be approved. If conflicting initiatives 114
or legislative alternatives are approved at the same election, the 115
initiative or legislative alternative receiving the highest number 116
of affirmative votes shall prevail. 117
( * * *10) If an initiative measure proposed to the 118
Legislature has been rejected by the Legislature and an 119
alternative measure is passed by the Legislature in lieu thereof, 120
the ballot titles of both such measures shall be so printed on the 121
official ballots that a voter can express separately two (2) 122
preferences: first, by voting for the approval of either measure 123
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or against both measures, and, secondly, by voting for one (1) 124
measure or the other measure. If the majority of those voting on 125
the first issue is against both measures, then both measures fail, 126
but in that case the votes on the second issue nevertheless shall 127
be carefully counted and made public. If a majority voting on the 128
first issue is for the approval of either measure, then the 129
measure receiving a majority of the votes on the second issue and 130
also receiving not less than forty percent (40%) of the total 131
votes cast at the election at which the measure was submitted for 132
approval shall be law. Any person who votes for the ratification 133
of either measure on the first issue must vote for one (l) of the 134
measures on the second issue in order for the ballot to be valid. 135
Any person who votes against both measures on the first issue may 136
vote but shall not be required to vote for any of the measures on 137
the second issue in order for the ballot to be valid. 138
Substantially the following form shall be * * * in compliance with 139
this subsection: 140
INITIATED BY PETITION AND ALTERNATIVE BY LEGISLATURE 141
Initiative Measure No. __________, entitled (here insert the 142
ballot title of the initiative measure). 143
Alternative Measure No. __________ A, entitled (here insert 144
the ballot title of the alternative measure). 145
VOTE FOR APPROVAL OF EITHER, OR AGAINST BOTH: 146
FOR APPROVAL OF EITHER Initiative No. ____ 147
OR Alternative No. ____ A ............................. ( ) 148
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AGAINST Both Initiative No. ____ 149
AND Alternative No. ____ A ............................ ( ) 150
AND VOTE FOR ONE 151
FOR Initiative Measure No. ____ ....................... ( ) 152
FOR Alternative Measure No. ____ A..................... ( ) 153
( * * *11) No more than five (5) initiative proposals shall 154
be submitted to the voters on a single ballot, and the first five 155
(5) initiative proposals submitted to the Secretary of State with 156
sufficient petitions shall be the proposals which are submitted to 157
the voters. The sufficiency of petitions shall be decided in the 158
first instance by the Secretary of State, subject to review by the 159
Supreme Court of the state, which shall have original and 160
exclusive jurisdiction over all such cases. 161
( * * *12) An initiative approved by the electors shall take 162
effect thirty (30) days from the date of the official declaration 163
of the vote by the Secretary of State, unless the measure provides 164
otherwise. 165
( * * *13) If any amendment to the Constitution proposed by 166
initiative petition is rejected by a majority of the qualified 167
electors voting thereon, no initiative petition proposing the 168
same, or substantially the same, amendment shall be submitted to 169
the electors for at least two (2) years after the date of the 170
election on such amendment. 171
( * * *14) The Legislature shall provide by law the manner 172
in which initiative petitions shall be circulated, presented and 173
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certified. To prevent signature fraud and to maintain the 174
integrity of the initiative process, the state has a compelling 175
interest in * * * ensuring that no person shall circulate an 176
initiative petition or obtain signatures on an initiative petition 177
unless the person is a resident of this state at the time of 178
circulation. For the purposes of this subsection, the term 179
"resident" means a person who is domiciled in Mississippi as 180
evidenced by an intent to maintain a principal dwelling place in 181
Mississippi indefinitely and to return to Mississippi if 182
temporarily absent, coupled with an act or acts consistent with 183
that intent. Every person who circulates an initiative petition 184
shall print and sign his or her name on each page of an initiative 185
petition, or on a separate page attached to each page, certifying 186
that he or she was a resident of this state at the time of 187
circulating the petition. The Secretary of State shall refuse to 188
accept for filing any page of an initiative petition upon which 189
the signatures appearing thereon were obtained by a person who was 190
not a resident of this state at the time of circulating the 191
petition, and an initiative measure shall not be placed on the 192
ballot if the Secretary of State determines that without such 193
signatures the petition clearly bears an insufficient number of 194
signatures. The provisions of this subsection ( * * *14) shall be 195
applicable to all initiative measures that have not been placed on 196
the ballot at the time this proposed amendment is ratified by the 197
electorate. 198
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ST: Constitution; amend Section 273 to
reinstate initiative process and revise
initiative signature requirements.
( * * *15) The Legislature may enact laws to carry out the 199
provisions of this section but shall in no way restrict or impair 200
the provisions of this section or the powers herein reserved to 201
the people. 202
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this proposed amendment shall be 203
submitted by the Secretary of State to the qualified electors at 204
an election to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday 205
of November 2026, as provided by Section 273 of the Constitution 206
and by general law. 207
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the explanation of this proposed 208
amendment for the ballot shall read as follows: "This proposed 209
amendment reinstates the citizen initiative procedure declared 210
invalid by the Mississippi Supreme Court, provides an initiative 211
process to amend the Mississippi Constitution requiring 40% of 212
registered voters, conforms the pro rata signature requirements of 213
congressional districts for initiative petitions to the current 214
number of congressional districts, prescribes signature 215
requirements to include home address and county of residence, and 216
provides that an initiative proposal shall only address one (1) 217
subject." 218