By Chris Davis, Eagle View Contributor

Arkansas voters turned back a proposed amendment that would have allowed state lawmakers to have the ability to call the legislature (the General Assembly) into special session. Currently, only the governor can issue a special call.

The measure was rejected with 61% of ballots cast against the measure, which had been referred to the ballot by a vote of lawmakers.

According to the University of Arkansas’ Division of Agriculture Research & Extension Public Policy Center, under the proposal, the speaker of the House and president of the Senate could  jointly decide to convene lawmakers OR two-thirds or more of the members of the Arkansas House of Representatives and Senate could sign a written proclamation calling for the special session. This would equal signatures from 67 of Arkansas’ 100 representatives and signatures from 24 of the state’s 35 senators.

Some opponents of the proposed amendment had suggested that allowing state legislators to call their own special sessions could be seen as a way for them to exploit that power, and it would end up costing the citizens more money.

The ballot issue was referred to voters by the Arkansas legislature. Proponents have said that Arkansas is simply behind the times due to the fact that it is one of 14 states where only the governor has the power to call a special session.

The main sponsors of the bill to place the proposed amendment on the ballot were Sen. Breanne Davis of Russellville and Rep. Frances Cavenaugh of Walnut Ridge. According to Ballotpedia, Davis had said, “We wanted to ensure through [SJR10] that special sessions remain special by requiring a higher threshold to allow the legislature to call itself into special session. We also wanted to ensure that the legislative branch had the ability to call itself into a special session if necessary.”