Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Commentary: Two Arcane Ballot Measures Show Need for Reform
dan_walters
By Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary
Published 7 years ago on
October 11, 2018

Share

There’s a symbiotic relationship between two of the 11 statewide ballot measures facing voters next month, Propositions 8 and 11.
Both would have voters decide very narrow union-management conflicts in two relatively small medical service sectors — with sponsors of both claiming that passage would reduce health care costs. And both set a very dangerous precedent.


Opinion
by Dan Walters
CALmatters Columnist

Proposition 8, sponsored by unions, purports to limit profits in clinics that provide dialysis treatments to sufferers of kidney failure. The providers, of course, oppose the measure.
Proposition 11, sponsored by ambulance companies, would allow them to require ambulance crews to remain on call during meal and rest breaks. It draws opposition, not surprisingly, from unions.
Both are obviously important to the interests that support and oppose them. However, it’s foolish to expect November’s nine-plus million voters to make even semi-informed decisions about their provisions, much less understand how dialysis clinics and ambulance services operate, or should operate.

Petty Conflicts Don’t Belong on Ballot

The initiative process should be confined to matters of more widespread and fundamental importance to the welfare of 40 million people. We’ve had relatively petty conflicts in ballot measures before, but these two take it to another level.
They are there because any interest group with a few million bucks and an ax to grind can qualify a ballot measure, regardless of their merits. Placing measures on the 2018 ballot was especially easy because a record low voter turnout at the last gubernatorial election in 2014 lowered the threshold of required signatures on initiative petitions for this year’s election.
Turnout will be somewhat higher this year for a variety of reasons, so qualifying measures in the future will be a bit more difficult, or expensive. Nevertheless, Propositions 8 and 11 have now shown the way and voters can expect to see more similarly arcane proposals in years to come.
Gov. Jerry Brown rightfully vetoed a bill to ban initiative promoters from paying for signature-gathering by each name they collect. That’s not to say, however, that the initiative process couldn’t benefit from some judicious changes, such as raising the signature threshold.

Raising Required Petition Signatures Might Help

Currently, a statutory initiative must obtain signatures of registered voters equal to 5 percent of the total vote for governor in the previous election, or 8 percent if it’s a constitutional amendment.
For this year, that meant 365,880 valid names for a statutory initiative and 585,407 for a constitutional amendment. Those are pretty small numbers, given the state’s more than 19 million registered voters.
Raising the required percentages by half — perhaps 8 percent for statutes and 12 percent for constitutional amendments — might discourage the misuse of the system for issues that cannot be fairly and rationally decided by voters.
Toughening the signature requirements also is important because the Legislature – perhaps to its regret – recently decreed that sponsors of initiatives can pull them off the ballot even after they’ve qualified, giving them leverage to demand legislative “solutions” to their issues.
The genteel form of extortion allowed by the new rules happened for the first time this year and we’ll see more of it in the future. But if initiative sponsors want to game the newly revised system, they should face higher entry fees by being compelled to collect more signatures.
Perhaps we should have a two-tiered signature threshold, providing access to legislative leverage only to those who collect a much-higher number of signatures — pay to play, as it were.
CALmatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Fresno Stabbing Leaves Son Dead, Father Charged With Murder

DON'T MISS

Trump Asks Supreme Court to Reinstate Transgender Military Ban, for Now

DON'T MISS

California Judge Blocks Trump’s Bid to Cut Funds to ‘Sanctuary’ Cities

DON'T MISS

Town Hall on Trump’s First 100 Days Will Air Next Week

DON'T MISS

Kristi Noem’s Handbag Was Snatched From Beneath Her Chair, DHS Says

DON'T MISS

Interior Department to Fast-Track Oil, Gas and Mining Projects

DON'T MISS

Survey: Californians Blame Utility Company Spending, Profits for High Electricity Rates

DON'T MISS

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Jonathan Scott Riester

DON'T MISS

Chicago Bears Great Steve McMichael Dies at 67 After Battle With ALS

DON'T MISS

Long Wait Is Over for Cam Ward, Travis Hunter and Other Draft Prospects Joining the NFL

UP NEXT

Over a Century Later, California May Need Another Revolt Against Its Utility Companies

UP NEXT

California’s Economy Was Already Sluggish Before Trump’s Global Tariffs

UP NEXT

Will Fresno Unified Sacrifice Another Generation of Students? The Choice Is Ours

UP NEXT

What if There’s No Way to Stop Trump’s Approach to Power?

UP NEXT

Zakaria Draws Parallels Between Trump’s Tariffs, Failed 1930s Economic Policies

UP NEXT

Americans Haven’t Found a Satisfying Alternative to Religion

UP NEXT

I Have Never Been More Afraid for My Country’s Future

UP NEXT

Why Is It So Expensive to Build Affordable Homes in CA? It Takes Too Long

UP NEXT

What Some Animals Endure Before We Eat Them

UP NEXT

Zakaria Warns of ‘Crony Capitalism’ in Trump’s Tariff Reversal

Town Hall on Trump’s First 100 Days Will Air Next Week

24 minutes ago

Kristi Noem’s Handbag Was Snatched From Beneath Her Chair, DHS Says

1 hour ago

Interior Department to Fast-Track Oil, Gas and Mining Projects

1 hour ago

Survey: Californians Blame Utility Company Spending, Profits for High Electricity Rates

1 hour ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Jonathan Scott Riester

2 hours ago

Chicago Bears Great Steve McMichael Dies at 67 After Battle With ALS

2 hours ago

Long Wait Is Over for Cam Ward, Travis Hunter and Other Draft Prospects Joining the NFL

2 hours ago

Golden State’s Jimmy Butler Injured in Game 2 Loss, His Status for Game 3 Unknown

2 hours ago

Crow-Armstrong Goes Deep Again as Cubs Edge Dodgers

3 hours ago

Jalen Green Makes Eight 3s to Help Rockets Even Series With Warriors

3 hours ago

Fresno Stabbing Leaves Son Dead, Father Charged With Murder

A man was arrested Wednesday after allegedly stabbing and killing his son during a disturbance outside an apartment complex near Cedar and S...

12 minutes ago

Bryan Blackman (right), 52, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of murder after admitting to fatally stabbing his son, Javoeea Blackman, 25, during a disturbance outside a Fresno apartment on Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (Fresno PD)
12 minutes ago

Fresno Stabbing Leaves Son Dead, Father Charged With Murder

13 minutes ago

Trump Asks Supreme Court to Reinstate Transgender Military Ban, for Now

16 minutes ago

California Judge Blocks Trump’s Bid to Cut Funds to ‘Sanctuary’ Cities

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after he signed proclamation expanding fishing rights in the Pacific Islands in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on Thursday, April 17, 2025. Trump on Thursday extended a hiring freeze across the federal government’s civilian work force to July 15. (Eric Lee/The New York Times)
24 minutes ago

Town Hall on Trump’s First 100 Days Will Air Next Week

1 hour ago

Kristi Noem’s Handbag Was Snatched From Beneath Her Chair, DHS Says

1 hour ago

Interior Department to Fast-Track Oil, Gas and Mining Projects

1 hour ago

Survey: Californians Blame Utility Company Spending, Profits for High Electricity Rates

Jonathan Scott Riester is Valley Crime Stoppers' Most Wanted Person of the Day for April 24, 2025. (Valley Crimes Stoppers)
2 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Jonathan Scott Riester

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend