history
Since 2011, the San Diego City Council has faced three referendums challenging its decisions. Another is out for signature. The most recent one, having to do with the Barrio Logan land use plan, has generated frustration among those supporting the council decision. Calling the referendum process undemocratic, a group opposing the referendum filed a lawsuit seeking to stop it. They lost twice.
There is nothing about which to be frustrated. The use of referendums to challenge legislative decisions is legal and has deep roots in democracy. There is nothing undemocratic about leaving decisions to San Diego voters, which is all a referendum does. It is a constitutional right in California.
The power of initiative and referendum has been withheld from Rhode Islanders for over a century. Voters advised the legislature to provide for an initiative process, but that request was ignored by the state legislature. You can read the history of the battle in Rhode Island here.
We have had a pretty busy year working to expand the initiative process here at Oklahomans for Initiative Rights. But, as the History of Initiative & Referendum page here on the Citizens in Charge Foundation site can tell you, the fight for citizen-controlled government in Oklahoma has been going on for 110 years! The battle for initiative rights started before Oklahoma was even a state, and I can promise you it isn’t about to stop!
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The Citizens in Charge Foundation page on the history of ballot initiative & referendum in New Jersey begins:
It is ironic that New Jersey, the state where the national initiative and
referendum movement originated, never adopted provisions for I&R.
Certainly it was not for lack of enthusiasm among New Jersey’s I&R
supporters…
Agitation for initiative and referendum in Michigan started with the formation of the state’s Direct Legislation Club in 1895 by George F. Sherman and David Inglis, both Detroit physicians. Inglis was 45 years old, a distinguished professor at the Detroit Medical College. Sherman and Inglis led I&R efforts in Michigan for over a decade without success,
despite support from the noted reformer, Detroit mayor, and later Michigan governor Hazen S. Pingree. In 1900 S. D. Williams of Battle Creek cited the legislature’s Republican majority as the major obstacle.
In 1904, I&R advocates began making headway with an endorsement from the Prohibitionist Party, followed in 1906 by the support of the Socialists and Populists and, in 1910, that of the Democrats. An amendment by Republican State Representative David E. Kulp calling for statewide I&R reached the floor of the lower house of the legislature in 1911, but it was…(Read More)
Throughout the month of June we will be looking at the history and impact of the ballot initiative, referendum and recall process.
These reforms, which started gaining popularity in the late 1800s, can be traced to the political philosophy of one of our founding father, Thomas Jefferson.
We wanted to start the series with a great piece by Paul Jacob, the President of the Citizens In Charge Foundation. For over 10 years Paul has hosted and authored Common Sense, a daily radio commentary.
Wyoming’s initiative and referendum pioneer was State Rep. L. C.
Tidball of Sheridan. In the early 1890s Tidball was one of the first state
legislators in the nation - possibly the very first - to introduce a bill to
amend a state constitution to provide for statewide I&R.
Did you know that ballot initiative and referendum (I&R) has existed in some form in this country since the 1600s. Citizens of New England placed ordinances and other issues on the agenda for discussion and then a vote during town meetings.
Thomas Jefferson was the first of our founding fathers to propose legislative referendum when he advocated for its addition in the 1775 Virginia state constitution…(Read More)