Archives for May 2010

Citizens Using the Process

Tue, May 18 2010 by Staff

Another example today of why citizen initiative rights are important. This one is from Jackson, Tennessee:

The Jackson City Council turned down a curfew ordinance earlier this year, but some residents are trying to bring it back ”” potentially as a ballot initiative.

Ballot BoxIn Arizona’s first statewide special election since 1980, voters will decide today whether to raise the state sales tax by 1¢. Farther north, Oregon voters will decide whether to allow the state government to issue bonds to match local school district bonds as well as whether to authorize state spending on higher education. Both state’s ballot questions were referred by the state legislatures.

This Is What It Is All About

Mon, May 17 2010 by Staff

I ran across this opinion piece in The Bismarck Tribune this morning and wanted to share it here. It’s a short but great piece that talks about the usefullness and success of an open & accessible ballot initiative process in the state of North Dakota. The author’s closing statement is particularly good:

Citizens in Charge Foundation, The New America Foundation, The Swiss Confederation and The American Consortium on EU Studies Center of Excellence

Invite you to a Roundtable Discussion

The Rise of Transnational Direct Democracy:
The European Citizen’s Initiative and
What It Means for the World


WHEN:  Monday May 24, 2010
TIME: 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.

James HolleyA group of citizens have turned in nearly 9,000 signatures - in a city of just over 100,000 residents - for the recall of Mayor James Holley.

Thanks to the hard work of a transpartisan coalition of groups and activists - including Citizens in Charge, our partner organization - the quest of some state senators to even further reduce Coloradans’ petition rights has been stopped. Senate Concurrent Resolution 003, which would have imposed a supermajority requirement on citizen-initiated constitutional amendments but not on amendments from the legislature, died quietly in the House Tuesday, unable to be taken up before the session end

BallotPedia released their weekly ballot measure count and update yesterday. The count increased from 109 last week to 116 this week. You can view the report here.

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I have some good news and bad news to report. The good news is that a resolution to put a pro I&R plank back on the Republican Party of Texas (RPT) Platform has made it through the Senatorial District conventions and is headed to the Platform Committee at the State Convention next month. A pro-I&R plank was on the RPT platform from 1979 to 1996. Two separate advisory referendums on the Republican party primary ballots showed the rank and file favored I&R by margins of 7 to 1 and 5 to 1.

ArizonaTwo separate efforts to bring Arizona’s controversial new immigration law to a public vote have been scrapped, according to the Washington Post.

Over at Townhall.com Foundation president Paul Jacob talks about efforts to secure Nebraskans’ petition rights in “The Spike That Broke the People’s Back.” As Chairman of the Western Nebraska Taxpayers Association - in addition to being Citizens in Charge Foundation’s Nebraska Citizen State Coordinator - I just want to take a moment to say how glad I am that organizations like Citizens in Charge Foundation and Citizen

If You Haven't Already...

Fri, May 7 2010 by Staff

Make sure to check out our new video on the Doe v Reed case that was argued before the Supreme Court at the end of April. This is a very important case moving forward for initiative & referendum around the country.

You can watch the video here.

Thanks for Coming

Thu, May 6 2010 by Staff

To those of you who were able to make it to Tortilla Coast and help us celebrate our West Coast expansion, thank you. We were able to wish Amanda well as she heads to California to expand our role in making the initiative & referendum process more open & accessible from coast to coast.

Make sure to stay tuned for updates on our new adventures in California and if you haven’t already, signed up to attend the 2010 U.S. Conference on Initiative & Referendum. Registration is FREE!