Taking the Initiative

[Valin]

City Journal:

Democrats are trying to remove the crown jewel of California’s Progressive-era reforms.
Steven Greenhut
7/12/11

A series of bills pending in California’s state legislature would severely curtail the use of voters’ initiatives and referenda—and have already sparked a long-overdue debate about the virtues of direct democracy. Advocates for reform make some valid points about the problems with the initiative process; it’s certainly the case that legislators and special interests have found ways over the years to abuse it. But those flaws notwithstanding, the current proposals for reform should disturb anyone who wants to keep a check on the legislature’s excesses.

Democratic assemblyman Mike Gatto of Burbank has put forth several far-reaching proposals to restrict the initiative and referendum. Chief among them is Assembly Constitutional Amendment 6, which would require “initiatives that spend money or create a new program or mandate to identify and specify the funding to pay for it.” Gatto and his fellow Democrats insist that the measure, if approved, would apply only to initiatives that created new programs, but Republicans and taxpayer groups worry that it would also apply to tax-cutting initiatives. The bill’s language seems to confirm their fears: “This measure would prohibit an initiative measure that the Legislative Analyst or the Director of Finance determines would result in a net increase in state or local government costs exceeding $5,000,000, other than costs attributable to the issuance, sale, or repayment of bonds, from being submitted to the electors or having any effect unless the Legislative Analyst, the Director of Finance, or both, as applicable, determine that the initiative measure provides for additional revenues in an amount that meets or exceeds the net increase in costs.” The legislation is expected to come to the floor on Thursday, though with amendments that allow only the legislative analyst to determine whether an initiative meets the financial threshold and that make it clearer that the legislation applies only to new programs.

Other Gatto bills would empower the legislature to modify initiative language and impose new supermajority requirements for certifying an initiative. The consequence of all these measures would be to reduce dramatically California voters’ ability to place initiatives on the ballot. Yet another reform measure, SB 448—this one authored by Concord Democrat Mark DeSaulnier, a close ally of public-sector unions—is simply a harassment bill: it would require signature-gatherers to wear signs with big letters declaring whether they’re paid workers or volunteers, as well as whether they’re registered to vote and where. It remains alive in the legislature.

(Snip)