dailymontanan.com/… Update #3- The Plan Lives On
April 1, 2026- The Montana Supreme Court ruled unanimously that reviewing the constitutionality of an initiative is “disfavored” because Montanans have a right to go through the initiative process.
Organizers behind the Transparent Election Initiative were cleared to begin gathering signatures last month to put I-194, or Ballot Issue 10, on the ballot in November.
The Montana Mining Association, the Montana Chamber of Commerce, the Stockgrowers Association, Montana Petroleum Association, Montana Trucking Association, Montana Contractors Association, Treasure State Resource Association, (the Cities of) Billings and Kalispell’s respective chambers of commerce, had filed suit arguing that the initiative unconstitutional.
After finding fault with the first version of the initiative, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen performed a procedural review of the initiative and found it sufficient to go before Montana voters.
Writing for the court, Justice Beth Baker wrote a long line of Montana Supreme Court cases emphasize that the attorney general’s authority to review legality of ballot initiatives is limited, citing previous rulings that the AG is not authorized to “withhold a proposed ballot measure from the ballot for an alleged substantive constitutional infirmity.”
“We decline to disturb this precedent here,” the opinion states. “… As Ballot Measure No. 10 has not even qualified for the ballot, opining on the substantive constitutional issues raised would be unquestionably advisory. This Court does not issue advisory opinions.”
The business interests alleged that the initiative was unconstitutional because “restricts protected political speech, is unconstitutionally vague, and unconstitutionally conditions entities’ benefits on their relinquishment of First Amendment rights,” per court filings.
This is not the first time Montana has fought to limit corporate influence in Montanan elections. After a bribery scandal, Montana banned corporate election spending in 1912.
After the disasterous Citizens United decision in 2010, the Supreme Court overturned the 1912 law as an abridgment of corporate rights granted in Montana’s laws that regulated the creation of “artificial persons”, including non-profits, trusts, partnerships, corporations, trade associations, or unincorporated associations and includes all such entities doing business in Montana — including those registered out of state.
In a statement, Jeff Mangan of the Transparent Election Initiative, expressed gratitude for the Supreme Court’s “swift and unanimous decision, which reaffirms the right of Montanans to participate in the initiative process and have their voices heard.”
“Our focus can now return to what this effort has always been about: Collecting signatures from Libby to Sidney and continuing to build a grassroots movement led by everyday Montanan,” Mangan said in a statement. “The Montana Plan is about giving people a real voice in their elections — not allowing big money to drown that voice out — and we’re proud to keep that work moving forward.”
dailymontanan.com/… Update
Original story: www.dailykos.com/…
Update#1-While the glimmer of light against Citizens United has not been extinguished just yet, the Montana Supreme Court has put up a roadblock.
On January 6th, this year, the Montana Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the ballot initiative, proposed by the Transparent Election Initiative (TEI) didn’t pass state constitutional muster by failing to address a requirement that ballot initiatives in Montana deal only with a single issue.
What the court didn’t do was to decide the issues that TEI raised with their ballot proposal, saying that if the one subject rule was fatal to the ballot initiative, the proponents may break down the initiative into two or more proposals to bring before the voters.
Jeff Mangan, a former Montana Commissioner of Political Practices, has spearheaded the effort to curb the amount of money that flows into the political cycle and Montana elections through the Transparent Election Initiative.
“Montana has a citizens’ initiative process that we can all be proud of, one that allows Montanans to roll up their sleeves to enact positive change for the betterment of family, friends, and neighbors. I hear from Montanans every day how much corporate and dark money is damaging our political process. It is a privilege to work on a matter that is so important, and that is exactly what we will continue to do,” Mangan told the Daily Montanan on Tuesday. “We appreciate and respect the work of the court. We are grateful for the guidance and understand what the court is saying. We will re-file by the end of this week. Now, I need to get back to work!”
The high court rejected the ballot initiative on the grounds that the initiative first revoked all powers of existing corporations, then regrants most of them, while prohibiting corporations from exercising political power, holding that each step must be put before the voters and rejecting TEI’s argument that the ballot initiative spoke to one overarching goal.
“Here, Transparent Election Initiative designated a target — the power to spend in politics — and casts a much wider net that revokes all powers,” the court said. “In this case, a voter may want to limit artificial persons’ ability to spend money on election or ballot-issue activity, but not limit any other powers that artificial persons may currently exercise in this state.”
Previously, the court has ruled against other initiatives that “log rolled” several issues into one ballot initiative. That is a technique that brings together disparate policies and tries to garner enough support from a wide swath of supporters.
Update #2- dailymontanan.com/...
Less than 48 hours after the court rejected the ballot initiative, TEI resubmitted a revised proposal that its leaders said honored the court’s ruling and simplified the motion. They also submitted a statutory proposal, that wasn’t a part of the original initiative to ensure Montanans can vote on the concept in the November election.
Transparent Election Initiative leader Jeff Mangan, who was formerly the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices, said he still prefers the constitutional initiative because it would establish the concept in the highest law in the state. However, because the time for signature gathering is narrowing, the initiative process that would amend state law is also an alternative he wants to keep available, because the threshold is lower.
For constitutional ballots, Montana requires “the petition must be signed by at least 10% of the qualified electors in the state at large, including at 10% in each of at least two-fifths (40) of the legislative districts,” according to Montana law.
For statutory initiatives, Montana requires a lower threshold: “At least 5% of the qualified electors in each of at least one-third of the legislative representative districts (34) and the total number of signers must be at least 5% of the total qualified electors of the state.”
The fight for free and fair elections continues…
A similar battle is playing out in California.
h/t randym77 — www.dailykos.com/...
