Ballotpedia reports on the variety of bills enacted to make ballot initiative processes harder or easier in 2024 across the US—more than the average for the prior six years.
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During the 2024 legislative sessions, 326 pieces of legislation related to direct democracy—ballot initiatives, referendums and recall petitions—were proposed. As of August 5, Ballotpedia reports, 33 bills and resolutions were enacted, close to the annual average of 34 enacted bills between 2018 and 2023.
Of the 33 enacted pieces of legislation, 10 were designed to make the initiative process more difficult, including four constitutional amendments requiring voter approval (two in Arizona, one in Colorado and one in North Dakota). This is above the average of seven such bills enacted annually between 2018 and 2023.
This year also saw the highest number of enacted bills designed to make the initiative process less difficult, with five such pieces of legislation. In comparison, 2023 had four such enacted bills, higher than the 2018-2023 average of two.
Summary of 2024
In 2024, 326 bills related to initiative, referendum and recall were introduced in state legislatures and 33 of the bills were enacted (10.12%), including the four ballot measures to be decided on Nov. 5, 2024.
Proposed Legislation: In 2024, 326 bills and resolutions related to ballot initiatives, referendums and recall petitions were introduced in 40 states. This number marks an increase from the annual average of 302 proposals between 2018 and 2023. Lawmakers approved 45 (11.7%) of the 385 pieces of legislation introduced in 2023, which was the year with the highest number of proposed bills related to direct democracy laws.
Enacted Legislation: 33 bills and resolutions were enacted in 2024 including the four ballot measures to be decided on Nov. 5, 2024. Utah had the most enacted pieces of legislation in 2024 with five bills enacted of the eight proposed.
Partisanship: 16 of the 33 enacted bills (48.5%) received bipartisan backing, 14 (42.4%) were passed with Republican majorities and three (9%) with Democratic majorities. In 2024, Republicans had trifectas in 13 (50.0%) of the 26 states that provide for statewide initiative and referendum. Democrats had trifectas in 10 (38.5%), and three (11.5%) states had divided governments.
Of the legislation enacted in 2024, four were constitutional amendments needing voter approval. From 2018 to 2023, there were 21 ballot measures related to the citizen-initiated or other ballot measure processes. Voters approved 11 (52.4%) and rejected 10 (47.6%) measures. Legislatures referred 17 (81.0%) of the measures, and the other four (19.0%) were citizen-initiated. The 2024 ballot measures would make the following constitutional changes:
Ballotpedia provides comprehensive coverage of ballot measure legislation in 2024 here. Typically, more pieces of legislation are proposed and enacted during odd-numbered years, like 2023, than even-numbered years, like 2024. This is likely because many state legislative sessions are two years long, starting in the odd-numbered year, and more bills are introduced at the start of the two-year session.
This story was produced by Ballotpedia and reviewed and distributed by Stacker Media.