From Ballotpedia: 2016 ballot measures

A look at the 153 ballot initiatives that are up for a vote in 35 states this November. None in Texas - we do not have them statewide, though they can happen on the local level. The dominant issues are marijuana, gun control, health care and minimum wage.

- Click here for the article.

Texas does regularly place constitutional proposals on the ballot. Some laws passed by the legislature can only take effect if the Texas Constitution is amended. As we will see in class, it often is.

- Click here for Ballotpedia's list of Texas ballot measures.

From the NYT: Builders Pierce California’s Environmental Shield With New Weapon: The Ballot

This should help with some terminology - and demonstrate that things don;t always work out as planned.

- Click here for it.

Once heralded as a vital check on corporate influence over government, California’s ballot initiative system — which allows residents to propose laws and approve them by popular vote — has been used to sharply cut property taxes and to enact the country’s first medical marijuana law.

But these days, developers are using the process for another purpose: to sidestep state environmental laws and speed up major developments.

Plans for a stadium in Carson, a shopping center north of San Diego and a massive warehouse complex in Moreno Valley were approved last year using the ballot initiative process. Another ballot measure petition hastened construction of a stadium in Inglewood, where the N.F.L.’s Los Angeles Rams will play.

The advantage for developers is clear: Projects approved by ballot measures avoid legal challenges under the California Environmental Quality Act.

There is a twist, though: Residents often do not even get a chance to vote.

Once 15 percent of eligible voters have signed a petition, a project qualifies for the ballot, and local elected officials can either call a special election or accept the proposal without negotiating changes. Officials often approve the project to avoid paying for a special election that could further strain tight budgets.

Supporters of the ballot measures say they allow residents to override a broken system in which lawsuits and environmental reviews can delay projects for years.

But environmentalists argue that the arrangement grants special privileges to developers, even if only a relatively small fraction of residents support a project. And land-use experts say the strategy will become more common unless the state government steps in to curtail it.

So far, the issue has failed to attract much attention in Sacramento.

“We’ve ended up with a warping of direct democracy to defeat strong environmental laws,” said Douglas Carstens, a lawyer specializing in land use and the environment. “It’s ramping up. Within a year or two, people will realize what a bad situation this is.”

From Ballotpedia: Laws governing direct democracy in Texas

Texas does not allow the general population many opportunities to directly impact legislation. Here's a look at what is allowed.

- Click here for it.

Texas citizens have statewide access to just one of the six common forms of direct democracy--they can ratify or reject constitutional amendments to the Texas Constitution placed on the ballot by the Texas State Legislature.

Here is the full list:

- the legislatively referred constitutional amendment,
- the legislatively referred state statute,
- the initiated state statute (direct or indirect),
- the initiated constitutional amendment,
- the veto referendum (sometimes called the citizen referendum or the statute referendum),
- the statute affirmation (available only in Nevada), and
- the statewide recall.

Random items for 2306 today

A smorgasbord:

Texas Tribune: In Texas, Making Presidential Ballot Won't Be Hard.

The Texas GOP's State Republican Executive Committee has decided that candidates have to pony up just $5,000 — or produce 300 signatures from registered voters in each of 15 of Texas' 36 congressional districts — to qualify.

That means Texas should be a hotly contested March 1 primary for GOP candidates who survive February's early state primary and caucus contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada — that is, if the candidate or his or her aligned super PAC can afford the sky-high TV advertising rates needed to play in giant Texas.

Texas Tribune: Nationalist Group Wants TX Secession on Primary Ballot.

Texas already seceded once — in 1861, by popular vote in a statewide election. But the Texas Nationalist Movement wants a repeat a century and a half later, and thinks the March GOP primary is the place to start.

The Nederland-based Texas independence group is circulating a petition aimed at getting a non-binding vote onto the GOP primary ballot over whether "the state of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation."

Their goal? 75,000 signatures from registered voters by Dec. 1 — more than the 66,894 the Texas Secretary of State's office says the group needs to get the language on the ballot.

The Corpus Christi Caller: Comptroller estimates close despite weak oil.

Despite volatility in oil prices, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar's predictions for the amount of money the state government will have in 2017 appear to be holding close to reality.

Hegar's forecast was issued in January, just before the 84th legislative session. The comptroller's revenue forecast is used by lawmakers to set the state budget for two years.

Last week, with the end of the fiscal year, all the budget funds' revenue was only 0.2 percent less than expected, finishing the year at $109.5 billion instead of $109.7 billion, according to a release.

My Statesman: Court should level the playing field for charter schools.

We agree with the overall conclusion of the recent editorial about the school finance litigation before the state Supreme Court. But we take issue with the specifics regarding public charter schools and facilities funding. The inclusion of charters in the legal discourse is historic, as no previous suit on this thorny issue has contemplated the constitutionality of public charter school funding. Public charter schools didn’t exist when the early suits were filed claiming Texas under funds its schools.

The Texas Constitution makes it clear the state legislature must establish and provide for an “efficient system of public free schools.” Today, and for the past 20 years, that system includes both traditional and public charter schools. Although the paper contends — as the lower court ruled — that charters are somehow an exclusive creation of the legislature, the fact is both types of public schools are subject to state oversight and funding.

My Statesman: Commentary: Licensing often serves to limit competition and choice.

An average college student in Texas lacking funds needs a quick haircut. Fortunately for him, a friend offers to cut his hair for $5, a fraction of the cost of a barber. The student accepts his friend’s offer and all was well, except one thing: By this transaction, his friend was in violation of state law since he did not possess a barber’s license in the state of Texas.

Occupational licenses may not seem like a hot topic, but with 29 percent of all jobs in the United States now requiring some form of license, the time has come to take a long and hard look at the heavy costs of these licenses on the economy and Texans.

Supporters of occupational licensing claim that they are necessary to safeguard the quality of licensed services, hold practitioners to safety standards, and prevent unethical and dangerous practices. The evidence, however, paints a different picture; licensing laws act more as a form of protectionism for those in licensed professions while blocking access to jobs, stifling job creation, and hindering technological development and access to information. Similarly, increasing technology and market advances are making governmental regulation of occupations increasingly obsolete.

My Statesman: Hays County asks if gun-ban policy is legal.

Hays County officials have asked Attorney General Ken Paxton to determine whether a new state law upends the county’s policy of denying weapons in a county building that includes courtrooms, prosecutors’ offices and the grand jury room.

State law has long prohibited the public from carrying weapons onto “the premises” of courtrooms or offices used by court officials.

But Senate Bill 273, which went into effect Sept. 1, also created stiff financial penalties for governments that improperly ban guns from areas where it is legal for those with a handgun license to carry a weapon. Fines for a first offense range from $1,000 to $1,500, with subsequent offenses topping out at $10,500.

The problem, Hays County Criminal District Attorney Wes Mau told Paxton, is that the three-story Hays County Government Center in San Marcos includes court-related offices where guns are banned as well as places where guns would typically be allowed, such as the tax assessor-collector’s office and the elections office.

Direct Democracy in Wisconsin

A recall election against their governor seems to have collected enough petitions to go forward.

Victory for Prop. 8 backers : SCOTUSblog

Victory for Prop. 8 backers : SCOTUSblog.

From the LA Times:

The California Supreme Court decided Thursday that the sponsors of Proposition 8 and other ballot measures are entitled to defend them in court when the state refuses to do so, a ruling likely to spur federal courts to decide the constitutionality of same-sex marriage bans.

The state high court’s decision, a defeat for gay rights groups, sets the stage for a federal ruling -- which could go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court -- that would affect marriage bans outside California.
Background from the NYT:

Some gay rights groups were disappointed today when the California Supreme Court ruled that the sponsors of Proposition 8, ProtectMarriage, have standing to defend the discriminatory law, even though Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown had refused to do so.

Previously, Judge Vaughn Walker, who ruled the ban against same-sex unions unconstitutional in federal court, had said that ProtectMarriage could not appeal his decision to the Ninth Circuit, because they were never able to prove that gay marriage harmed them in any way.

That, of course is one of the many huge flaws in the argument against marriage equality.

But, as we wrote in an editorial on December 10, 2010, denying standing to the anti-marriage crowd would effectively nullify the referendum, confounding the initiative process and the voters’ right to have their choices defended. That’s probably not the best way to secure equality for a minority group.

Direct Democracy

interesting video, the comments are worth reading also.

U.S. Debt Ceiling Increase Remains Unpopular With Americans

U.S. Debt Ceiling Increase Remains Unpopular With Americans

A bit for 2301 - and our upcoming discussion of public opinion, and our ongoing exploration of the relationship between public opinion and the different institution: According to the Gallup Poll, twice as many Americans - 42% to 22% - oppose increasing the debt ceiling as support increasing it. 35% admit to not knowing enough to give an opinion - a large chunk.

Here are the numbers:



The numbers vary depending on partisanship, but independents answer the question the same as Republicans. They oppose raising it 4 to1. Respondents are more concerned about runaway spending than the economic crisis that would likely follow a refusal to increase it.

Referendum in Ohio?

From the Atlantic, an item for 2301:

Yesterday, Ohio Gov. John Kasich -- who after just two months in office already had a 28-year record low 40 percent job approval rating -- unveiled his budget plan, which includes slashing public school budgets and selling several state prisons to the private sector. Meanwhile, a coalition of labor unions, community groups, and small student associations held a "Day of Actions" in protest of Senate Bill 5, with activities such as a teachers' rally, picketing on Columbus's Capitol Hill and phonebanking.

The bill, which is backed Kasich and currently making its way through the Ohio House of Representatives, would severely limit collective bargaining power by public-sector employees, including police, firefighters and teachers. Unions would not be able to bargain on pension or health-care plans, yearly step increases would be thrown out in favor of merit raises, and if there were disagreements over contract negotiations, the bill bans strikes, and adds fines for walkouts.

Labor groups and Democrats anticipate the bill's passage through the Republican dominated House -- it passed the Ohio Senate on March 5 -- but plan to fight back by working to put the legislation directly before voters in a special ballot election this fall. Ohio, unlike Wisconsin, lacks a mechanism for recalling elected officials, but it does have a direct means for overturning unpopular legislation: If labor and Democrats are able to secure 200,300 signatures in the coming months, a ballot proposition to vote on overturning Senate Bill 5 will appear before voters come November.

That means Ohio pro-union forces won't need to rely on labor-friendly Democrats to get elected in a special election in order to overturn anti-union legislation -- their plan in Wisconsin, where they are seeking to recall eight GOP senators, elect Democrats in their stead, then repeal the just-passed law stripping public sector unions of most collective bargaining rights in the state. Instead, Ohio union supporters can take on the offending legislation directly themselves.

Recall Election Process Underway in Wisconsin

And it will be costly. Local governments have not budgetted for this thing. But it an irony considering that teh goal was to reduce spending:

Colleen Kottke:

With the ink still drying on a divisive collective bargaining law in Wisconsin, cash-strapped municipalities already facing cuts in state aid are bracing for the prospect of another fiscal thumping: recall elections.

"I only budgeted for two elections this year," said Fond du Lac County Clerk Lisa Freiberg. "I didn't budget for a recall election."

If successful, a flurry of petition drives targeting all 16 state senators eligible for recall — eight Democrats and eight Republicans — could leave municipalities scrambling to cover the unexpected expense.

Freiberg said a combination of staff salaries, computer equipment costs and printing expenses could cost Fond du Lac County more than $10,000 if Sen. Randy Hopper, R-Fond du Lac, who represents the 18th District, is called to face voters in a special election. That's roughly 30 percent of the city's election budget.

"We have to find a way to make things balance. Whether we have the money or not, we still have to run an election," Freiberg said. "If the petition is certified, I am anticipating a high voter turnout."

2010 California Propositions

Here's a list of what passed and what didn't in Tuesday's election.

Aside from the defeat of Prop 19 -- which would have legalized and taxes marijuana -- the most interesting result might be Prop 20, which establishes a committee (the California Citizens Redistricting Commission) that will design congressional districts rather than the state legislature.

Should Texas do something similar?

Can the Federal Government Challenge the Constitutionality of Prop 19 if it Passes?

Yes.

No.

Mayors Recalled Across the Nation

Mayors who have dealt with budgetary crises by either raising taxes or cutting spending have been recalled by voters across the nation. Does this support or undermine the notion of direct democracy? Is the public serious about prudent budgetary policy? This fits into our larger discussion about whether the public can actually govern itself, which is the heart of the American Experiment.

The Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010

For our upcoming discussion of direct democracy -- recall that the Constitution establishes a republic -- here's the latest from California, the center of initiative activities, which in turn can influence the nature of policy policy change elsewhere: the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010. The bill would effectively legalize marijuana (Click here for lists of other initiatives considered in the states). .

Past heads of the DEA are threatening to sue the state if this passes, but here's a question about what the suit would be based upon.

Aside from whether this is good idea substantively, there is the federalism issue. Marijuana would remain illegal nationally, which sets up the obvious fight.

Direct Democracy in the House

The House Republican leadership is allowing activists to vote on what spending items to cut. What would Madison say about this?

Is There a Right to Secrecy?

The Supreme Court considered arguments that ballot petitions should be secret. The case is Doe v. Reed.

- Doe v. Reed - ScotusWiki
- Doe v. Reed: Citizens United, Part Two
- Doe v. Reed : First Amendment Coalition
- Election Law: Doe v. Reed Commentaries

Voter Initiatives in California

A huge subject in 2301 will be the nature of the American democratic system. The founder's deliberately avoided creating a pure, or direct, democracy and opted instead for a representative system, or republic. One reason was to ensure that the anger and fluctuations common to mass public opinion would not have an immediate impact on public policy. The intent was that slow rational deliberations would win out over heated superficial ones.

Nevertheless, more direct democratic mechanisms have been instituted over American history, notably the Progressive movements' push for recall, initiative and referendum elections a century back. Perhaps no state has used them more than California, but it is commonly argued that many of the budgetary problems the state faces stem from this process. Anger from the left and right have, respectively, increased social spending and limited the ability of the state to pay for those services. In addition, the ability of legislators to effectively manage crises has been also been limited.

The following NYT story suggests that these woes will continue.

As we discuss the nature of democracy and our views about the appropriate relationship between the government and the governed, it is worth considering how close the relationship ought to be. A major lesson we will learn from discussing the constitutional structure will be how the entire constitutional system structures that relationship. Without an understanding of that relationship, the the entire purpose of the governing system is a mystery.

A Few Words on the Debt

There are increased concerns that, despite the need for spending to help get the economy out of the recession, little attention is being paid to addressing the ballooning debt once this is (hopefully) accomplished:

- Clive Crook: Looking into the Fiscal Abyss.
- Brookings Institution: Here Comes the Next Fiscal Crisis
- Brookings Institution: An Update on the Economic and Fiscal Crises.

The same point can be made about the current level of debt, and out ability to address the potential increases in the debt, made below about California. It's a product of the democratic system. We get into debt because we spend too much and tax too little, both are easy to do. The hard part is cutting the spending and raising the taxes that allow for debt to be driven down. If an elected leader would go out on a limb and propose either or both as a solution to the current fiscal crisis, would he or she be re-elected? If not, whose to blame? Is debt an excess of democracy?

Direct Democracy and the California Budget Crisis

As my 2301's begin to discuss elections, we will ponder the pros and cons of direct v. indirect democracy. We covered this already when we discussed Federalist #10 and Madison's preference for a republic over a pure democracy. A major theme this week will be the tighter connection between the population and the government forged over the last two centuries.

One of the key driving forces behind this process was the progressive movement and their support of initiatives, referenda, and recall elections. Though Texas did not adopt these elections statewide (they are used in local elections) many states did, California most notably. As it stands, much of California's tax policy and governmental programs were established not by legislators in a deliberative body, but by the mass public through ballot initiatives as informed by campaign advertisement. Critics argue that California's current budget shortfall (over $20 billion) can be blamed on the impact of these direct elections.

The electorate rallies behind a new proposed program, but also behind efforts to not only cut taxes, but make increasing the taxes necessary to pay for these programs difficult if not impossible.

This leads to an uncomfortable -- and probably elitist -- point. Was Madison (and the bulk of the rest of the founders) right to be worried about the "excesses of democracy"? It makes complete short sighted sense for people to want to increase spending programs (meaning education, health, etc...) and also to decrease taxes in order to carry around more pocket money. We all want something for nothing. But this creates problems down the road.

So was Madison right to be skeptical of direct (pure) democracy? Does the fiscal health of a country depend on limiting the ability of the general population to have an immediate impact on public policy? Or are we the people capable of making sound, fiscally prudent decisions?

Additional readings:

- The Claremont Institute - Direct Democracy in California
- California Direct Democracy
- State of Paralysis.
- FT.com Willem Buiter's Maverecon From direct democracy to ...

Initiatives 2008

Ballotpedia gives us a list of initiatives on the 2008 ballot across the country.