Citizens in Charge

Bob Behn, a lecturer in public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, was interviewed recently about the budgetary crisis facing California.

In what is an otherwise good discussion of the state’s fiscal issues, Mr. Behn ends with an oft-cited criticism of the initiative process:

California’s fiscal problem is fundamentally a governance problem. The state’s initiative and referendum processes were designed to permit the average citizen to have a direct impact on the state’s laws and constitution (which now has 500 amendments). In reality, however, this populist ideal has been captured by a plethora of special interests, each of which collects signatures to put its own narrow proposal on the ballot. (emphasis ours)

As we see it, there are a number of potential issues with the point that Mr. Behn is trying to make. First, most amendments to the California constitution were not put there via initiatives. Indeed, most questions that appear on California’s ballot are not citizen-initiated measures at all, but legislative referrals.

But perhaps more fundamentally, how true is it that California’s initiative process has been captured by “special interests?” Suppose it’s true that such groups are spending money and collecting signatures to put measures on the ballot. Why is that a problem? Unlike spending money on lobbying legislators, placing initiatives on the ballot does not ensure a favorable outcome. Rather, citizens still have to vote on the measure before it can be enacted into law.

In other words, whereas lobbying represents money spent to secure actual votes, spending money on a petition drive only buys a chance for citizens’ voices to be heard. What’s so wrong with that?

Tell us what you think in the comment section below.