Idaho governor given petition to veto voter initiative bill

NAMPA, Idaho (AP) _ A former Idaho Supreme Court justice has delivered a petition to the governor's office with more than 16,000 signatures that urges him to veto a bill that would make it more difficult to put voter initiatives on the ballot.

The bill has already been approved by the Idaho House and Senate, the Idaho Press reported Thursday.

The bill mandates the signatures of at least 6% of registered voters in all 35 of Idaho's legislative districts in order to qualify any initiative for the Idaho ballot. The current law requires at least 6% signatures from registered voters in 18 of the 35 districts.

``I think it's constitutionally deficient,'' former Justice Jim Jones said. ``The people are supposedly the ones who have the power under the Idaho Constitution. They granted themselves the power to initiate legislation and to kill bills that the Senate and the House adopted . Now the Legislature is essentially trying to make it impossible for the people to execute their legislative power.''

The petition was the result of a campaign from Reclaim Idaho, Conservation Voters for Idaho and other organizations. The signatures represent Idaho residents from 44 counties and 200 different towns and cities.