Are There Initiatives Calling For Citizen Service

See NCSL's Initiative and Plebiscite Processes resource for more than comprehensive details on citizen initiatives, popular referenda and each state's laws.

Citizen Initiative Overview

In political terminology, the initiative is a process that enables citizens to bypass their state legislature past placing proposed statutes and, in some states, constitutional amendments on the ballot. The first country to adopt the initiative was Due south Dakota in 1898. Since then, 23 other states accept included the initiative process in their constitutions, the most recent being Mississippi in 1992. That makes a full of 24 states with an initiative process.

At that place are ii types of initiatives: direct and indirect. In the direct process, proposals that qualify get directly on the ballot. In the indirect process, the proposal is submitted to the legislature. The legislature tin approve the proposed measure, or a essentially similar one, in which case it is unnecessary for the measure to keep the election for voters to consider. Procedures vary from state to state, but in general if the legislature has non adopted the proposal, the initiative question goes on the election. In some states with the indirect process, the legislature may submit a competing measure that appears on the ballot along with the original proposal.

No two states have exactly the aforementioned requirements for qualifying initiatives to be placed on the ballot. Generally, even so, the process includes these steps:

(1) preliminary filing of a proposed petition with a designated state official;

(2) review of the petition for conformance with statutory requirements and, in several states, a review of the language of the proposal;

(3) preparation of a ballot title and summary;

(4) apportionment of the petition to obtain the required number of signatures of registered voters, ordinarily a percentage of the votes bandage for a statewide office in the preceding general election; and

(v) submission of the petitions to the state elections official, who must verify the number of signatures.

If plenty valid signatures are obtained, the question goes on the ballot or, in states with the indirect procedure, is sent to the legislature. Once an initiative is on the election, the general requirement for passage is a majority vote, though in that location are exceptions.

Popular Referendum Overview

The pop referendum is a measure that appears on the election as a event of a voter petition drive and is similar to the initiative in that both are triggered by petitions, but there are of import differences. The popular referendum allows voters to approve or repeal an deed of the Legislature. If the Legislature passes a law that voters do not approve of, they may gather signatures to need a popular vote on the law. More often than not, there is a 90-day menstruation after the law is passed during which the petitioning must take place. Once enough signatures are gathered and verified, the new law appears on the ballot for a popular vote. During the time between passage and the popular vote, the law may not take event. If voters approve of the law, information technology takes effect as scheduled. If voters reject the constabulary, information technology is voided and does not take effect. 24 states take the popular referendum. Virtually of them are besides initiative states.

Legislative Referral (or Referendum) Overview

Legislatures are often required to refer certain measures to the ballot for voter blessing. For instance, changes to the state constitution must exist approved by voters before they can take effect. Many state legislatures are also required by their state constitutions to refer bond measures and tax changes to the voters. Although this is not ever the case, legislative referenda tend to be less controversial than denizen initiatives, are more oft canonical by voters than citizen initiatives, and often receive higher vote thresholds. Legislative referenda may appear on the ballot in all l states.

Another form of referendum or referral, the advisory referendum, is rarely used. In this course of the process, the Legislature, and in some states the governor, may place a question on the election to guess voter stance. The results of the election on this question are not bounden. An case of an advisory referendum is Question 5, which appeared on the Rhode Island ballot in 2002. Placed on the ballot past the governor, Question 5 asked voters if they favored changing the state constitution to make the iii branches of government co-equal. Although voters overwhelming voted yeah, the question was non-binding and the governor and legislature were not obligated to human activity upon the measure.

NCSL Resources

Initiative and Referendum Processes
Chart: The I&R States
Statewide Ballot Measures Database
Initiative and Referendum in the 21st Century (2002 report from NCSL'due south I&R Chore Force)