Gov. Brad Little has signed SB 1110, the restrictive new bill on voter initiatives, into law, saying it’s a “much closer call” than the even more restrictive initiative legislation he vetoed two years ago.

“Whether SB 1110 amounts to an impermissible restriction in violation of our Constitution is highly fact-dependent and, ultimately, a question for the Idaho judiciary to decide,” Little wrote in his transmittal letter to the Idaho Senate on Saturday. “I also expect the federal courts may be called to determine whether SB 1110 violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.”

Reclaim Idaho, the group that pushed the successful Medicaid expansion initiative in 2018, immediately announced it plans to challenge the new law in court.

House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, learned of the decision Saturday morning when she spoke with Little. “I got off the phone with him about 10 minutes ago,” she told the Idaho Press. “He told me he signed it. I told him we were indescribably disappointed that he was willing to protect the executive powers but not willing to protect the people’s powers,” she said.

SB 1110, one of the most controversial bills of the legislative session, would expand the signature requirement to qualify a voter initiative for the ballot from 6% of registered voters in 18 of the 35 legislative districts, to 6% in each of the 35 legislative districts, without exception. Testimony at public hearings on the bills was overwhelmingly against it, and 16,000 people signed petitions to the governor asking him to veto it.

Under the bill, while the total number of signatures required still would be 6% of registered voters statewide, the change would make it much more difficult to qualify an initiative or referendum for the Idaho ballot, essentially allowing a single legislative district veto power over the rest of the state. The right to initiative and referendum is guaranteed in the Idaho Constitution, but lawmakers have been unhappy with its use by citizens, including the 2018 passage of the Medicaid expansion initiative and the 2012 passage of Propositions 1, 2 and 3 to repeal controversial education reform measures lawmakers had passed, nicknamed the “Luna Laws.”

Little vetoed farther-reaching restrictions on initiatives in 2019, saying he feared they’d land the state in court and let a federal judge determine Idaho’s initiative rules.

“In 2019, I vetoed SB 1159 and HB 296 because I had serious concerns for the constitutional sufficiency of the bills and the unintended consequences of their passage,” Little wrote in his Saturday letter. “I expressed my support for the Legislature’s goal of ensuring that the rights of all Idahoans — not just those in urban areas — have a voice in Idaho’s initiative process. However, I believed those bills went too far.”

“I have similar concerns with SB 1110,” he wrote, “but I believe the bill presents a much closer call.”