Cda Eases Initiative Process But New User-Friendly Law Needs Tweaking, Official Says

A new Coeur d’Alene city ordinance makes it easier for residents to put voter initiatives on the ballot, but an apparent oversight may make it unconstitutional.

The Coeur d’Alene City Council voted Sept. 21 to approve new rules for how voter initiatives get placed on the ballot.

The old guidelines stated that a group or person wanting to put something before voters had to obtain signatures from 20 percent of the city’s 16,000 registered voters - about 3,200 people.

Now, the requirement is 20 percent of those who showed up at the last general election. Based on a 4,000-voter turnout in 1997, just 800 signatures would now be required.

Kootenai County Commissioner Ron Rankin has used the initiative process several times in the past in his push to cap property taxes.

“I think it’s great. This gets government back in the hands of the people,” he said. “This is a real plus for the citizens of Coeur d’Alene. I want to recommend the mayor and City Council for job well done.”

City Clerk Susan Weathers said it was her understanding that the purpose of the ordinance was to simply bring it up to date with recent changes to state law.

But the new city ordinance includes a section that requires anyone paid to gather signatures to use red ink showing they are being paid. That provision was repealed from the state law last March by the Idaho Legislature.

That was done because it appeared to be similar to a Colorado law that was ruled unconstitutional, Chief Deputy Secretary of State Ben Ysursa said.

“Somebody ought to point out to them that that provision was repealed,” Ysursa said. “I think they used the bound volume of the code and may have not checked with someone. I don’t think they necessarily wanted to do that.”

Weathers said a quick amendment would fix the ordinance. “I think it was a simple oversight. It’s not a big deal.”