California’s long history in direct democracy began with the Oct. 10, 1911, special election to amend the state Constitution. On the ballot that day was the initiative to propose and enact state laws by a direct vote of the people. The amendment passed by an overwhelming majority and allowed any group of citizens in the state that can gather petition signatures equal to 8 percent of the voters in the most recent election for governor to put a new law up for vote on the ballot. (The number of signatures was changed in 1966 to be 5 percent in the case of a statute and 8 percent in the case of an amendment to the California Constitution).
Just over 100 years later, we are now familiar with the big business of collecting signatures for elections, with independent firms paid by proponents to get their requisite numbers from us at all manner of public places. This may be the extent of our knowledge of the initiative process. Conducting research on ballot measures is not as common as legislative history research and requires an entirely separate set of documents and processes.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
