A bill that is expected to pass the Legislature this week should bring some badly needed reform to Montana's ballot-initiative system, a system that last fall became mired in lawsuits and saw three measures tossed into the trash weeks before the election.

In response to judicial rulings that signatures had been gathered fraudulently, Senate Bill 96 would require signature gatherers to be Montana residents, and would prevent workers from being paid according to the number of signatures they get. Those steps aren't going to banish any possibility of fraud - there always will be pressure to come up with as many signatures as possible, particularly if there's trouble obtaining enough - but it should reduce the kinds of misrepresentations that occurred last year.

The bill also would let legal challenges go directly to the state Supreme Court, thus bringing a speedier resolution, and allow an initiative's supporters write the 100-word description appearing on the ballot (although the attorney general still would have the opportunity to correct it if necessary).

The initiative process is something that people can love and fear at the same time, depending on how desirable or hare-brained they believe a specific measure may be. The process can create a worthy law that otherwise might have failed because of the idea had too many powerful opponents. It also can amount to a sneaky end run for somebody's far-out ideology.

All in all, though, citizen-approved initiatives have an important place in the political process. That's why it is just as important to keep the system as honest and straightforward as we can.