Lawmakers Eye Changes to Ballot Measures -- Passed and Future

Legislators are seeking to roll back some of the high-profile ballot measures that voters approved in November. They also want to make it harder for initiatives to pass in the future.

Ballot measures have become a popular way to enact new policies -- from minimum wage hikes and legalized marijuana to abortion restrictions andethics reforms.

But voter-approved measures are meeting more pushback.

Republican legislators in several states are fighting ballot measures on two fronts: As was the case following the 2016 election, they are trying to overturn provisions of some laws that voters just passed in November. They are also seeking legislative changes that would make it harder for ballot measures to pass in the future.

"Lawmakers are undermining the will of their constituents by unraveling these voter-approved changes and attacking the ballot measure process," says Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, which promotes progressive ballot measures.

Progressives in particular have sought in recent years to push ideas through the initiative process that couldn't win approval through legislatures, such as minimum wage increases and the creation of independent redistricting commissions.

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