With proposed state legislation nearing a crucial June deadline, another bill to change the system of direct democracy in California remains under discussion.
AB 421, which is a measure to alter the referendum process by which voters get the chance to keep or repeal a state law, counteracts decades of the state’s democratic process, said Loren Kaye, president of the California Foundation for Commerce and Education, in an email response to the Northern California Record.
Californians are fortunate to be in a state – among 26 in the country – in which voters can have a direct impact on laws, Kaye said.
“Californians understand that the referendum is a necessary tool that provides a check and balance on the Legislature and holds politicians and elected leaders accountable,” Kaye said. “Changing the rules and making the process more complex and expensive deprives voters of their fundamental voting right of oversight. By making it harder to qualify referenda and certain initiatives, this proposal will deny Californians their voice in addressing grievances with their government.”
Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, D-Culver City, brought the bill to Sacramento lawmakers with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) as its sponsor, but Bryan didn’t respond to requests for comment from the Record.
More than 50 organizations, largely representing small businesses in California, oppose AB 421 in the strongest possible terms, Kaye said.
“The amendments did nothing to change the main purpose of the bill which is to severely undermine the ability to use the ballot referendum as a tool to keep the Legislature accountable to voters,” Kaye said.
As of now, the bill is awaiting action on the Assembly Floor and discussions with the author continue, he added.
“Similar proposals have been vetoed five different times by the last three governors in 2006, 2009, 2011, 2018 and 2019,” Kaye said. “When Governor Newsom vetoed this proposal in 2019, he said: ‘While I appreciate the intent of this legislation to incentivize grassroots support for the initiative process, I believe this measure could make the qualification of many initiatives cost-prohibitive, thereby having the opposite effect. I am a strong supporter of California's system of direct democracy and am reluctant to sign any bill that erects barriers to citizen participation in the electoral process.’”
In vetoing a similar proposal in 2018, then-Governor Jerry Brown said: “Per-signature payment is often the most cost-effective method for collecting the hundreds of thousands of signatures needed to qualify a ballot measure. Eliminating this option will drive up the cost of circulating ballot measures, thereby further favoring the wealthiest interests. This is a dramatic change to a long-established democratic process in California.”
If passed, AB 421 could face legal challenges, particularly under the U.S. Supreme Court's 1988 decision in Meyer v. Grant, in which the court overturned a Colorado law that restricted signature gathering for ballot measures.
“Eliminating Californians’ ability to express their position on major state policies strips the voters of one of their fundamental rights and what has long been a hallmark of what makes our state so unique,” Kaye said. “The referendum is part of the holy troika of California direct democracy, along with the initiative and the recall. However, compared with the initiative power, it is lightly used. This is as Gov. Hiram Johnson and the Progressive framers intended. According to the Secretary of State, in the last 100 years, there have only been 33 state referenda that have qualified and gone before the voters. That is less than .001% of the tens of thousands of pieces of legislation that have been enacted. Despite suggestions otherwise, there is no evidence that the referenda process is controlled or manipulated by any interest. In fact, in the last 70 years of the 17 referenda that have qualified, 10 of them have had to do with redistricting or Indian Gaming Compacts.”
But this year two referenda have qualified for the Nov. 2024 election ballot.
The union sponsor of AB 421 also has described the importance of California’s direct democracy on the SEIU-UHW website, under the headline Ballot Initiatives: They Work: “When elected officials don’t take action on the issues that matter to us, ballot initiatives are a great way for the people to make change. We believe in the power of initiatives to hold powerful interests accountable.”
On this, opponents and supporters are in agreement, Kaye said.
“By making it harder to qualify referenda, this proposal is denying Californians the right to address grievances with their government,” Kaye said. “Californians cherish direct democracy and this would eliminate that opportunity.”