Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Trump Vowed to Dismantle MS-13. His Deal With Bukele Threatens That Effort.

3 hours ago

Ukraine Voices Concern as US Halts Some Missile Shipments

3 hours ago

Poll: Most Americans Say National Divide, Political Violence Threaten Democracy

3 hours ago

Paramount Settles With Trump Over ‘60 Minutes’ Interview for $16 Million

3 hours ago

Republicans Tee up House Vote on Trump Bill, Outcome Uncertain

3 hours ago

What’s Next for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs After His Sex Trafficking Trial?

4 hours ago

Dalai Lama Says He Will Be Reincarnated, Trust Will Identify Successor

4 hours ago

Shaver Lake and Reedley 4th of July Shows Are Wednesday. Who Else Is Celebrating?

2 days ago
How Proposed Changes to California Ballot Measures Could Affect Election Results
By admin
Published 2 years ago on
April 30, 2023

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

When Major League Baseball opened its 2023 season this month, players and managers had to contend with a raft of new rules, including time limits on pitchers and batters and limits on bunching infielders on one side of the diamond.

Whether the new rules speed up the games, as intended, is still uncertain, but it is certain that they will affect outcomes to some unknown extent. Changing the rules of any game changes outcomes, and what’s true in sports is also true of politics.

Dan Walters with a serious expression

Dan Walters

CalMatters

Opinion

The most obvious example of how changing rules affects outcomes is redistricting – the redrawing of legislative and congressional districts after each decennial census. Republicans hold a majority in Congress largely because GOP-controlled state legislatures redrew congressional districts to give the party more opportunities to win seats. For decades, Democrats have done the same thing when they had the chance.

This year’s session of the California Legislature includes three major efforts to change rules governing ballot measures, all of which could affect outcomes.

One of them, Senate Bill 858 – and a companion measure, Senate Constitutional Amendment 3 – is the latest of many attempts to remove the attorney general’s authority to write the official titles for statewide ballot measures. Introduced by Sen. Roger Niello, a Republican from the Sacramento suburbs, the two measures would give the task to the Legislature’s budget analyst, who already provides the fiscal analysis of proposed measures.

It’s a change that should be made because recent attorneys general, all Democrats, have blatantly skewed official titles, with positive slants for liberal measures such as tax increases and negative ones for proposals of conservative groups. Judges have occasionally intervened in extreme cases, but generally defer to the attorney general.

Not surprisingly, those on the left want to maintain the status quo so Niello’s two-bill package is likely to join other proposed reforms in the legislative trash pile.

Rule Changes Sponsored by Dems Likely to Pass

The other two efforts to change the rules governing ballot measures come from Democrats and thus are more likely to be enacted.

One, by Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, would undo two genuine ballot measure reforms that the Legislature passed and former Gov. Jerry Brown signed less than a decade ago. They require local tax and bond ballot measures to clearly state their financial impacts in the 75-word summaries that appear on the ballot and prohibit authorities from using summaries to extol the proposals’ virtues.

Local government officials hate the reforms because giving voters unvarnished facts might make them less likely to pass such measures. Wiener’s Senate Bill 532 would shift the financial data to the voters’ pamphlet, thus freeing officials to once again use ballot summaries for propaganda.

Wiener claims the bill would “improve ballot measure transparency” but it would have exactly the opposite effect, burying the facts and thus making it easier to pass tax and bond proposals – which, of course, is the intended result.

Finally, there’s Assembly Bill 421, carried by Assemblyman Isaac Bryan, a Democrat from Culver City, at the behest of unions and other liberal organizations.

As the Legislature turned to the left in recent years and enacted many new business regulations, those impacted by the new laws have increasingly turned to the ballot to thwart them. AB 421 is clearly aimed at making it much more difficult – or even impossible – for business groups to overturn laws via ballot measures, either referenda or initiatives, by imposing very tight new rules on qualifying them for the ballot.

AB 421 is likely to win legislative approval, but its ultimate fate is in doubt. Both Gov. Gavin Newsom and his predecessor vetoed similar proposals in the past.

About the Author

Dan Walters has been a journalist for nearly 60 years, spending all but a few of those years working for California newspapers. He began his professional career in 1960, at age 16, at the Humboldt Times. For more columns by Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

Make Your Voice Heard

GV Wire encourages vigorous debate from people and organizations on local, state, and national issues. Submit your op-ed to rreed@gvwire.com for consideration. 

 

RELATED TOPICS:

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

Trump Pulls Back 150 Guard Troops From Federal Duties in California

DON'T MISS

Trump Says Israel Has Agreed to Conditions to Finalize 60-Day Gaza Ceasefire

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Man Arrested for Suspected Arson Hours After Separate Wildfire

DON'T MISS

New California Environmental Rollbacks Could Boost Housing Projects in Fresno

DON'T MISS

Iran Made Preparations to Mine the Strait of Hormuz, US Sources Say

DON'T MISS

Fresno Unified’s Embattled Nikki Henry Exits. ‘I Own My Mistake. I Won’t Let It Own Me.’

DON'T MISS

Trump Floats Daughter-in-Law Lara Trump for Senate Run in North Carolina

DON'T MISS

Google Hit With $314 Million US Verdict in Cellular Data Class Action

DON'T MISS

Tulare County Wildfire Prompts Advisory in Three Rivers Area

DON'T MISS

O’Brien Launches Fresno County Schools Chief Campaign by Handing Out ‘Homework’

UP NEXT

Israel Faces Genocide Accusations Amid Gaza Food Aid Killings

UP NEXT

I Detest Netanyahu, but on Some Things He’s Actually Right

UP NEXT

Much of LA’s Community of Immigrants Is Hiding, Leaving a Hole in the Fabric of the City

UP NEXT

Things Netanyahu Might Say if Injected With Truth Serum

UP NEXT

California Politicians Ignore Ag’s Troubles, but Boost Movie Business

UP NEXT

Trump’s Courageous and Correct Decision to Bomb Iran

UP NEXT

How the Attacks on Iran Are Part of a Much Bigger Global Struggle

UP NEXT

Groceries Are Now a Luxury. So Is Breathing.

UP NEXT

California Politicians Agree on School Money, but Poor Test Scores Need Attention

UP NEXT

Sen. Alex Padilla: This Is How an Administration Acts When It’s Afraid

From Victims to Perpetrators: Israeli Soldiers’ Nazi Comparisons and the Unfolding War Crimes in Gaza

1 hour ago

Downtown Housing Could Rise in Many California Cities, but Barriers Remain

2 hours ago

Bryan Kohberger to Plead Guilty to Murders of Four Idaho Students

2 hours ago

Dear Mayor and City Council, Fresno’s Housing Bottlenecks Are a Modern Form of Redlining

2 hours ago

Iran Enacts Law Suspending Cooperation With UN Nuclear Watchdog

3 hours ago

Valley Children’s Goes Into News Business to Highlight Stories at the Hospital

3 hours ago

Trump Vowed to Dismantle MS-13. His Deal With Bukele Threatens That Effort.

3 hours ago

Ukraine Voices Concern as US Halts Some Missile Shipments

3 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Logan Ryan Martin

3 hours ago

Poll: Most Americans Say National Divide, Political Violence Threaten Democracy

3 hours ago

US Judge Blocks Trump Asylum Ban at US-Mexico Border, Says He Exceeded Authority

WASHINGTON – A federal judge on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump’s asylum ban at the U.S.-Mexico border, saying Trump ex...

24 minutes ago

A drone view of the Rio Grande River between Mexico and the United States in Presidio County, Texas, U.S., February 24, 2025. (Reuters File)
24 minutes ago

US Judge Blocks Trump Asylum Ban at US-Mexico Border, Says He Exceeded Authority

Fresno Fire officials are seeking help identifying a person of interest after a Thursday, June 26, 2025, house fire near Shields and Valentine was ruled arson. (Fresno FD)
56 minutes ago

Fresno Fire Investigators Seek Public’s Help in Arson Case

A California Highway Patrol officer died early Wednesday, July 2, 2025, after a suspected medical emergency caused his patrol vehicle to crash in Los Angeles. (CHP)
1 hour ago

CHP Officer Dies in Line of Duty After Medical Emergency While on Patrol

A general view shows destruction in North Gaza, as seen from Israel, May 27, 2025 (REUTERS/Amir Cohen TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)
1 hour ago

From Victims to Perpetrators: Israeli Soldiers’ Nazi Comparisons and the Unfolding War Crimes in Gaza

San Francisco Housing Development
2 hours ago

Downtown Housing Could Rise in Many California Cities, but Barriers Remain

Bryan Kohberger, right, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, is escorted into a courtroom to appear at a hearing in Latah County District Court, in Moscow, Idaho, U.S., September 13, 2023. (Reuters File)
2 hours ago

Bryan Kohberger to Plead Guilty to Murders of Four Idaho Students

2 hours ago

Dear Mayor and City Council, Fresno’s Housing Bottlenecks Are a Modern Form of Redlining

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during a meeting in Ilam, Iran, June 12, 2025. (Reuters File)
3 hours ago

Iran Enacts Law Suspending Cooperation With UN Nuclear Watchdog

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

Search

Send this to a friend