Lobbying Limits Top Constitutional Amendments

November 7, 2018

By NSF Staff

While it received relatively little campaign attention, a measure that called for new lobbying restrictions was the most popular of a dozen proposed constitutional amendments on the Tuesday ballot. The lobbying proposal, known as Amendment 12, received support from 78.9 percent of voters, far exceeding the 60 percent threshold needed to pass constitutional amendments. The measure, in part, will ban state and local elected officials from lobbying for six years after they leave office. In all, 11 of the 12 proposed constitutional amendments passed Tuesday, with voters only turning down a measure that would have increased the homestead property-tax exemption. That proposal, known as Amendment 1, received 58.1 percent of the vote. Other top-vote getters included Amendment 3, which is designed to make it harder to expand gambling, with 71.5 percent support; Amendment 13, which will ban greyhound racing at pari-mutuel facilities, with 69 percent support; and Amendment 9, which bans offshore oil drilling and vaping in workplaces, with 68.9 percent support.