In 2019, the Kentucky Supreme Court overturned a crime victims' rights amendment known as Marsy's Law, which had been approved by voters. Their reasoning: The amendment was posed to voters in the form of a summary and the court held that the full text of amendments should be printed on the ballot instead.
But Stivers argues that ruling has led to more confusion at the ballot box and he wants to revive the previous system which allowed for simpler summaries of amendments.
"Most states do it as I am proposing," he said. "To do it by question, you can then go to a site or a newspaper and see what the full text would be."
It's a change that would require its own amendment, and that's what the Manchester Republican is recommending.
The amendment passed its first hurdle Wednesday in a Senate committee, though Democratic Sen. Cassie Chambers-Armstrong — a no vote — had questions about how the summaries would be written.
"It's not clear to me based on the bill itself who decides what's a fair and accurate summary," she said. "I believe there's a role in elections for proponents and opponents to give their own summaries and sometimes people have different interpretations."
The measure now moves to the full Senate.