initiative process
Oregon lawmakers gave final approval Monday to a bill sponsors say will curb abuses of Oregon’s century-old initiative system that lets citizens put proposed laws on the ballot.
The bill will allow state election officials to prohibit someone from registering as a paid signature gatherer if they’ve been convicted of fraud or forgery.
California’s ballot measures have received a lot of media attention in the last few months. Some want to blame the state’s problems on the initiative and referendum process. Paul Jacob disagrees.
In his Common Sense commentary, Prop 13 Declared Innocent, he explains why.
Prop 13 Declared Innocent.
Voters in Nevada are under attack by their state legislature.
Recently the Nevada legislature voted to make the ballot initiative process much, much harder. New legislation would effectively shut out regular citizens out of the process.
In his daily commentary, Common Sense, Paul Jacob discusses the actions in Nevada in A Law to Be Named Later. He writes:
Citizens for Limited Taxation, which has been involved in numerous ballot referendum efforts, called on lawmakers Wednesday to kill three bills that the group says will make it harder for activists to put questions before voters.
Today the Buffalo News reported citizens in New York are taking charge of their government. The state has made it easier to bring issues to a vote.
The author of the bill, Attorney General Andrew Cuomos hopes the legislation will empower voters and create a more efficient local government.
The article states:
Citizens will find it easier to bring petitions to merge or abolish local governments ”” from villages to fire districts to sewer agencies ”” under legislation that won final legislative approval Wednesday night in the State Senate.
We at Citizens in Charge Foundation focus on expanding and protecting the initiative and referendum process at the local and state level. We educate voters on the process in their home state and local communities.
There are several groups out there like Vote.org who want to make the initiative and referendum a national process. Using the model of Switzerland, activists want to promote I&R in the USA as a way to reform the political process.
Recently Ralph Nader spoke out endorsing a national initiative process.
Citizens in New York are looking for ways to reform the state’s political process.
State Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio, D-Queens, and Sen. Michael Ranzenhofer, R-Amherst have introduced legislation to enact an initiative and referendum process in New York.
Today Charles Roda writes an editorial on the why voters should embrace the process. He argues the state’s current system is broken:
Much has been made about the results of California’s ballot measures. Some articles denounce the system as convoluted, and others praise it for providing the people a voice. Californian voters sent a loud message to the government: deal with the budget. Others unhappy with the result want a constitutional convention to do away with the system.
What do you think should happen?
Some interesting articles:
In a few hours California voters will take to the polls and decide the fate of their state. Using the initiative and referendum process millions of people will weigh on important measures. In Paul Jacob’s weekly column he writes how he is “jealous” of Californian’s power.
Californians live in one of 24 states that have the power of initiative and referendum. While he agrees the process is not perfect but states it provides people with options.
A coalition of same-sex marriage opponents and taxpayer groups is trying to persuade voters to approve a state constitutional convention in the hopes of bringing the initiative petition process to Connecticut.
Great news out of Nebraska, a vote to change how Nebraskans vote.
According to the Journal Star, a proposed ballot measure will allow the average voter to have a stronger voice in their state’s government.
Nebraskans could vote on whether it should be easier to vote ”” on ballot initiatives.
An Omaha businessman is pushing a plan to make it easier for Nebraskans to use their initiative process. Currently the number of signatures needed to qualify for the ballot is based on the number of registered voters. Under the new system, which is what most states use, the number would be based on the vote for governor.
Citizen led reform is a priority for Illinois Governor Pat Quinn. He is working against the clock to push through his top issues before the official end of the state’s legislative session.
Quinn, who is trying to create a stark difference between himself and his predecessor, the disgraced Rob Blagojevich, is making his mark as a reformer. At the top of his “must-do” list are ethics reform, passing a recall measure, public financing and allowing citizens to use binding referendums to enact reform when lawmakers do not.