Give Iowans the ability to start the constitutional amendment process, Democrats propose

DES MOINES — Iowans would be able to start the process of amending the state’s Constitution — removing the need for state lawmakers to take the first steps — under a proposal introduced this week by Democratic state lawmakers.

There are 24 U.S. states that allow for citizen-led ballot initiatives, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In those 24 states, citizens can initiate the process of amending their state’s constitution.

Iowa is not among those states. Here, amending the constitution must start with a legislative proposal from state lawmakers, or by a constitutional convention, which is available only once every 10 years.

Iowa House Democrats are proposing to change that and give Iowa citizens a more direct role in amending the Iowa Constitution.

House Democrats this week introduced House Joint Resolution 5, which would give eligible voters in Iowa the ability to collect petitions and start the process of amending the Iowa Constitution.

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“What we’ve seen in the last few years is many people have asked us to weigh in directly on policy implications that affect their lives, and they’re seeing other states have the opportunity to weigh in on ballot measures and wondering why we aren’t able to do the same,” Iowa Rep. Jennifer Konfrst, a Democrat from Windsor Heights who leads the Iowa House Democrats, said this week.

“Iowa House Democrats believe it’s important to give voters a say as much as possible, so we’ve proposed legislation to allow voter referendums, and that would require a change to the Constitution,” Konfrst said. “So we’re starting that process now to begin the conversation.”

The Democrats’ proposal is unlikely to gain much traction in the Iowa Statehouse. Republicans have complete control of the state lawmaking process with majorities in both chambers of the Iowa Legislature to go along with Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds.

Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley, a Republican from New Hartford, said this week that he believes the current system works well.

Amending the Iowa Constitution starts with a proposal from state lawmakers. That proposal must pass both chambers in two consecutive Iowa General Assemblies. In other words, the proposal must pass both the Iowa House and Senate twice; and those actions must be separated by one general election.

Then, the proposed constitutional amendment must be approved by a majority of Iowa voters in the next general election.

Iowa voters approved two constitutional amendments in the 2024 general election: one dealing with the gubernatorial line of succession, and the other with a citizenship requirement for voting eligibility. In 2022, Iowa voters enshrined into the state constitution gun ownership rights with higher legal protections even than the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

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“I think it greatly weakens the legislative process when you start going down that path,” Grassley said. “I think we’ve proven, for constitutional amendments in the past, that we’ve had a willingness as a Legislature to at least consider them. So I think we have a pretty good process here, that things come before the Legislature and ultimately have a vote of the people. …

“So I think we have a system right now that works and reflects the voices of Iowans.”

Iowa Democrats have watched in recent years as voters in many states have add access to abortion services in their respective state constitutions or state law, including in Republican-led states where, without the states’ citizen-led ballot initiatives, those proposals would not have made it to voters.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court decision that effectively revoked the federal right to an abortion and put restrictions in the hands of state laws, citizens in 16 states have voted on state constitutional amendments regarding abortion, according to KFF, a nonprofit health care advocacy and news organization.

Of those, voters in 13 states supported abortion access. Among them are Republican-led or Republican-leaning states like Kentucky, Kansas, Montana, Missouri, Ohio, Arizona and Nevada.

Konfrst said while abortion was a top issue in House Democrats’ decision to propose a state constitutional amendment, she believes Iowa voters might also like the opportunity to weigh in on other issues, like taxpayer-funded private school tuition assistance, legalizing recreational marijuana use, or gambling issues.

Iowa Sen. Janice Weiner, a Democrat from Iowa City who leads the Senate Democrats, noted Missouri voters in 2024 approved a minimum-wage increase and paid family leave requirements for businesses.

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Republican President Donald Trump won Missouri by 18 percentage points.

“Our neighbor to the south weighed in to increase the minimum wage and create a family leave program even though they voted red for the presidential election,” Weiner said. “So I think this could be an important way to decouple politics from particular issues that people tend to agree on.”

With the two approved in 2024, the Iowa Constitution has been amended 51 times since it was written in 1844, 1846, and 1857.

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com

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