Outgoing Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg has a well-deserved reputation for being among the most thoughtful members of the Legislature. He can take pride that one of his final bills, SB 1253, will join many others in having a lasting impact on state governance.
The legislation significantly improves the ballot initiative process, which has been subject to abuse and was long overdue for reforms. Steinberg”s bill requires a 30-day period for public feedback at the start of the initiative process so that proponents have the option to amend it if weaknesses are uncovered. The law also provides that once an initiative has collected 25 percent of the signatures it needs to qualify for the ballot, legislative committees would be required to meet and hold public hearings to see if a legislative solution can be achieved. If negotiations are successful, supporters would be allowed to drop their proposition from the ballot, even if it has already qualified. Current law does not permit that option, even if substantial problems have been identified.
The opportunity for a legislative alternative is something other states successfully use. Even initiatives with excellent goals and major provisions have some serious flaw that debate in the Legislature could work out. Voter approval leaves no opportunity to fix an initiative once it”s law unless the fix goes back to voters. Usually, we just live with the flaws.
Also, initiative backers sometimes rush to put their issue on the ballot without even trying to get lawmakers to deal with it. Last year”s attempt to mandate labeling of genetically modified products was a classic example. The result in this case was rejection by voters. The sausage-making in the Legislature can be frustrating, but committees often expose weaknesses in proposals. Even if the matter ends up on the ballot anyway, it”s likely to have clearer language that will stand up to court challenges — and perhaps to opponents” campaigns.
“By allowing an initiative proponent to withdraw their measure closer to the election, it allows for the possibility of reasoned compromise and a better result between the people”s elected government and the people”s initiative alternative,” Steinberg said after the governor signed the legislation this week.
Besides providing opportunities to refine initiative proposals, the law requires the state to post the top 10 donors to campaigns on each side of a proposition, so it will be clearer who benefits from the proposal. And it extends the signature-gathering period from 150 to 180 days.
When Gov. Hiram Johnson introduced the initiative process in California, it was a good-government reform to let the people pass laws themselves, circumventing the moneyed interests that controlled the Legislature. But moneyed interests have hijacked the system away from grassroots movements.
Steinberg”s bill could avoid some of the ballot battles, and at a minimum it should result in clearer, better-reasoned and more transparent ballot measures for voters to decide.
San Jose Mercury News
