California: Funding source requirement for initiatives could go to voters
Ballot initiatives that result in new spending for the state - a practice derided by some as “ballot box budgeting” - would have to include a source of funding under a bill that passed its first legislative hurdle at the Capitol on Tuesday. The measure, a constitutional amendment that would have to go before voters if approved by the Legislature and signed by the governor, would mark a major change in California’s unique brand of direct democracy that was brought to the state by Hiram Johnson 100 years ago.