After legal battle, group behind voter-led lawmaking defense starts gathering signatures

The campaign to amend Montana’s constitution so it would be harder for lawmakers to interfere with citizen-led efforts to enact laws through ballot initiatives has begun gathering the signatures necessary to put the proposal in front of voters this November.

Signature gathering is often the most lengthy and expensive part of the ballot initiative process, and it can't begin until the attorney general and the secretary of state office sign off on the proposed language.

CI-133, launched in October by a group called Montanans Decide, would add a section to the state constitution that guarantees “impartial, predictable, transparent and expeditious processes” for ballot measures and protects against the government getting involved on either side of a proposed referendum.

The effort has faced an uphill battle to get to this point that, organizers say, illustrates the need for the kind of protection they are trying to codify.

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen late last year determined that the initiative’s language was legally insufficient because it cobbled together too many unrelated items for voters to make an informed decision. Montanans Decide filed a lawsuit in response, prompting the state Supreme Court to issue a ruling in February that overturned Knudsen’s legal insufficiency finding, and directed Knudsen’s office to send the proposal to the secretary of state’s office for approval.

Now, Montanans Decide has begun to collect the roughly 60,000 signatures required for CI-133 to get on the ballot later this year.

“Citizen initiatives should not be bogged down in endless litigation and bureaucratic hurdles put in place by those elected to serve the people,” the group’s attorney Raph Graybill said in a statement. “Montanans overwhelmingly support this initiative because it protects the people’s power to hold government accountable.”

Montana's constitution can be amended through two primary tracks, both of which require steps to first get the measure on the ballot before voters may approve proposed changes with a simple majority: In one, groups circulate petitions and collect a certain number of signatures from across the state to put the proposal up for a vote; in the other, two-thirds of the Legislature votes to put the referendum on the ballot.

Montanans Decide is taking the first route to the ballot. It must collect at least 60,000 signatures from at least 40 legislative districts no later than June 19 and have those signatures verified by the secretary of state.

Heightened scrutiny on the ballot initiative process comes on the heels of two high-profile efforts that successfully changed the state's constitution, much to the consternation of state Republicans who hold all statewide offices and a majority in the state Legislature.

One, in 2020, legalized adult-use of recreational cannabis, and another in 2024 enshrined the explicit right to abortion before the fetus is viable outside the womb.

The group behind the effort to codify abortion rights, which was ultimately approved by a strong majority of voters, sparred for months with state officials in order to get the proposal on the ballot. First, there were fights with Knudsen over the measure’s language, and then Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen ordered county-level elections officers to throw out certain signatures that had been collected.

CI-133 would require the state to allow ample time for signature gathering, and prohibits disqualification of petitions because of minor or technical issues and allows voters to withdraw their signatures if they choose.

Montanans Decide last week published results from a poll it had commissioned alleging that 68% of likely voters support the measure. The poll, which reached 800 voters during a five-day stretch earlier this month, found the initiative had the most backing from Democrats, but more than half of Republicans who responded said they’d support it.

According to the most recently available state campaign finance data, Montanans Decide raised $229,201 between Oct. 2025 and Dec. 31, 2025, and spent nearly all of it.

Most funds raised so far have come through two 501(c)(4) organizations, which legally are not required to disclose their donors and, therefore, are a common vehicle for “dark money” entering elections.

The Fairness Project, a group that promotes progressive ballot measures nationwide and also worked on last cycle’s constitutional initiative to protect abortion rights in Montana, had contributed a total of $151,000 to Montanans Decide as of the end of 2025. It also footed the bill for the polling the group issued last week.

American Opportunity Action which, according to InfluenceWatch, is funded in large part by former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, had donated $130,000.

“This is an opportunity for voters to show their elected officials that Montanans know what’s best for Montana,” spokesperson SK Rossi said in a statement. “Keeping the government in check is the right of the people, and we are asking everyone who believes in accountability for our elected officials to sign this petition, talk to your neighbors and friends and sign up to volunteer.”

The proposal from Montanans Decide is one of a number of ballot initiatives that could appear on the 2026 ballot. Others include an effort to safeguard nonpartisan judicial elections and another that would attempt to bar corporations from donating directly to candidates for state office.

All have dealt with some kind of pushback from the attorney general’s office on the legality of the measure’s language, spurring litigation from the groups behind them.