Switzerland Right To Know Genetically Engineered Food Labeling Ballot Initiative

The California State Ballot Initiative Process

"There is no safer depository of the ultimate power of society
but the people themselves."
Thomas Jefferson

Outline of Initiative process steps in the State of California:

Writing the text
Submission & Request for Title & Summary
Preparation of Title & Summary and Fiscal Analysis (if required)
Calendar of filing deadlines prepared
Circulation period begins (based on official summary date)
Filing petitions with County Elections Offices
Raw Count
Random Sample verification
Fails to Qualify, Qualifies without further verification, or requires full check
Certification of the measure for the ballot
Election; Measure takes effect if approved by majority vote

INTRODUCTION

In writing the following, we have borrowed heavily from the California Secretary of States pamphlet entitled Ballot Initiatives the Ins and Outs of Getting an Initiative on the California Ballot.

Their introduction states (our emphasis added):

"In a special election held on October 10^th, 1911, California became the 10^th state to adopt the initiative process. That year, Governor Hiram Johnson began his term by promising to give citizens a tool they could use to adopt laws and constitutional amendments without the support of the Governor or the Legislature. The new legislature put a package of constitutional amendments on the ballot that placed more control of California directly into the hands of the people. This package included the ability to recall elected officials, the right to repeal laws by referendum and the ability to enact state laws by initiative.

The initiative is the power of the people of California to propose statutes and amendments to the constitution. Generally, any matter that is a proper subject of legislation can become an initiative; however, no initiative addressing more than one subject area may be submitted to the voters or have any effect. An initiative is placed on the ballot after its proponents successfully meet a series of deadlines&"

We have condensed what follows from the aforementioned Ballot initiative pamphlet; for more complete details, or to obtain a copy, contact the Elections division of the Secretary of State in Sacramento at (916) 657-2166.

Step One: Writing the text of the proposed law

Individuals may choose to write the text themselves, seek the assistance of private attorneys, or obtain the assistance of the Legislative Council in drafting the measure. If seeking the assistance of Legislative Council, the proponents must present the idea for the law to the Legislative Counsel, along with the signatures of 25 or more qualified voters who sign the request for a draft. The Legislative Counsel will then draft the proposed law if it seems there is a reasonable chance that it will be submitted to the voters.

Step Two: Request for title and summary

After the text of the proposed law has been written, it is submitted to the Attorney Generals office, along with a written request for a title and summary of the measure, and a payment of $200. The Attorney Generals office then prepares a Title and Summary (which will be the official summary of the measure), and provides a copy of this to the Secretary of State within 15 days of receiving the final version of the proposed initiative. Proponents may submit amendments during this 15-day period, in which case the Attorney Generals deadline is 15 days from the date the amendments were received.

If the Attorney General determines that a fiscal analysis is required, the measure goes to the Department of Finance and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, which has 25 days from the date they receive the final version to prepare the fiscal analysis. The Attorney General has 15 days after receiving the fiscal analysis to complete the Title and Summary.

When the summary is complete, the Attorney Generals office sends it to the proponent, as well as the Senate, the Assembly, and the Secretary of State. The official summary date, which is the date the summary is sent to the proponent, is the date used to calculate the calendar deadlines for the proponent and elections officials. Petitions may not be circulated before the summary date.

Step 3: Circulation

The Secretary of State next prepares a calendar of filing deadlines, and sends a copy to the proponent.

Proponents have 150 days to collect the necessary signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot. The measure must qualify at least 131 days before the statewide election in which it will be submitted to voters.

The number of signatures required to qualify is dependent upon the type of initiative submitted, i.e. whether it is a proposed initiative statute or a proposed initiative constitutional amendment. If it is a proposed statute, the number needed is 5% of the votes cast for all candidates for Governor at the last gubernatorial election prior to the date of issuance of the Title and summary for the measure. For a constitutional amendment, the figure is 8%.

The format of the petition has certain requirements specified by law, and county elections officials will not accept petitions that do not conform to these requirements. There are specifications as to the type sizes, fonts, positioning, and wording that must be used in parts of the petition. The title & summary, text of the proposed law, and declaration of circulator must all be printed on a single page (no stapling or attachment of additional pages). The signature section has certain specifications as to format and information required. Registered voters must fill in their residence address, not a P.O. box. Each copy of the petition must contain the signatures of voters from the same county, since these will be mailed to their respective county elections offices.

Step 4: Circulating and signing

Each copy of the petition must have a "declaration of circulator" filled in and signed by the petition circulator who obtained those signatures. Only registered, qualified voters may sign the petition. They must supply their signature, printed name, and residence address. Each signer may sign only once.

Step 5: Filing, Counting, and Verification

Once the required number of signatures has been gathered, they are turned in to the appropriate county elections office. All pages for a particular county must be filed at the same time. Only the proponents of the measure, or persons authorized by one or more of the proponents, may file the completed petitions.

Within 8 working days, the county elections office must supply the Secretary of State with the total signature count from that county. If the raw count of submitted signatures from throughout the state does not meet the requirement, the initiative fails to qualify.

If the raw count is 100% or more of the total number needed to qualify, each county must then verify the validity of the signatures filed with their office, using a random sampling technique. County elections officials must verify 500 signatures or 3% of the number filed, whichever is greater. If less than 500 signatures are submitted in a particular county, all signatures from that county must be verified.

Each county elections official then certifies to the Secretary of State the number of valid signatures in that county. From these totals, the Secretary of State determines a statewide total. If the total is less than 95% of the number needed to qualify, the petition fails to qualify for the ballot. If it is greater than 110% of the required number, the petition qualifies without further verification. If it is between 95% and 110%, a full check of all signatures must be conducted by each county elections office. They have 30 working days to submit the results to the Secretary of State. If the reports from the county elections officials show that the requisite number of voters has signed the petition, the measure qualifies. The Secretary of State then sends copies of the measure to the State Senate and Assembly, which may hold joint public hearings on the subject of the measure. The legislature has no authority to alter the measure or stop it from appearing on the ballot.

Election:

The initiative measure, if approved by a majority vote, takes effect the day after the election unless the measure specifies otherwise. If two or more measures approved at the same election conflict in their provisions, the measure that receives the higher number of votes will prevail. The legislature can amend or repeal an initiative statute by another statute that becomes effective only when approved by the voters, unless the initiative statute permits amendment or repeal without voter approval.

For further information: