Reform would force Secretary of State to hew to state Constitutional requirements<\/i><\/p>\n
California Constitution, Art. II, Sec 8(c)<\/p>\n
(c) The Secretary of State shall then submit the measure at the next general election held at least 131 days after it qualifies or at any special statewide election held prior to that general election. The Governor may call a special statewide election for the measure.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
That would be the founding document of our state government, with a requirement that initiatives gathering sufficient signatures to qualify for the ballot be placed on the next general<\/b><\/i> election. However, over the years, as the Legislature has put measure after measure on primary ballots for expediency, or whatever reason, and the various secretaries of state over the past 40 years just put the signature-based initiatives on the primary ballot. Ho-Hum.<\/p>\n
Except that really isn’t what the Constitution states, and there is a good reason for that. Primary elections have wildly shifting electorates, in good ways and bad. Of course, the June primary this year is just one such example. The Republican base is going to be motivated, or at least somewhat motivated, while Democrats don’t have a presidential primary, as of yet, to get excited.<\/p>\n
And, as you may know, “paycheck deception” is now headed to the ballot<\/a>. And given that they have now pulled the measure off the streets, it seems likely that they have the signatures. Paycheck deceptions not only threatens the power of labor, but also of the Democratic party. So, you know, the Legislature is getting some pleas from labor to help pull the initiative system back to 1971:<\/p>\n
Democratic legislators are considering an 11th hour bill that would shift all initiative ballot measures to the November ballot — a move that, if enacted, would help their union allies stave off some measures they oppose.(SacBee<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Thing is, we probably never should have strayed from the Constitution, and now that we’ve let it go for this long, we look very kind of strange making the big change now. But, the Constitution is the Constitution, and getting the SoS to act like Art. II exists seems like a reasonable goal no matter how the winds of a particular election are blowing at our backs or into our face.<\/p>\n
UPDATE<\/b>: CalBuzz ran a story<\/a> with a bunch of background on the legal definitions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reform would force Secretary of State to hew to state Constitutional requirements<\/i><\/p>\n
California Constitution, Art. II, Sec 8(c)<\/p>\n
(c) The Secretary of State shall then submit the measure at the next general election held at least 131 days after it qualifies or at any special statewide election held prior to that general election. The Governor may call a special statewide election for the measure.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
That would be the founding document of our state government, with a requirement that initiatives gathering sufficient signatures to qualify for the ballot be placed on the next general<\/b><\/i> election. However, over the years, as the Legislature has put measure after measure on primary ballots for expediency, or whatever reason, and the various secretaries of state over the past 40 years just put the signature-based initiatives on the primary ballot. Ho-Hum.<\/p>\n
Except that really isn’t what the Constitution states, and there is a good reason for that. Primary elections have wildly shifting electorates, in good ways and bad. Of course, the June primary this year is just one such example. The Republican base is going to be motivated, or at least somewhat motivated, while Democrats don’t have a presidential primary, as of yet, to get excited.<\/p>\n
And, as you may know, “paycheck deception” is now headed to the ballot<\/a>. And given that they have now pulled the measure off the streets, it seems likely that they have the signatures. Paycheck deceptions not only threatens the power of labor, but also of the Democratic party. So, you know, the Legislature is getting some pleas from labor to help pull the initiative system back to 1971:<\/p>\n
Democratic legislators are considering an 11th hour bill that would shift all initiative ballot measures to the November ballot — a move that, if enacted, would help their union allies stave off some measures they oppose.(SacBee<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Thing is, we probably never should have strayed from the Constitution, and now that we’ve let it go for this long, we look very kind of strange making the big change now. But, the Constitution is the Constitution, and getting the SoS to act like Art. II exists seems like a reasonable goal no matter how the winds of a particular election are blowing at our backs or into our face.<\/p>\n