Law Commons^™

The Right To Amend State Constitutions, Jessica Bulman-Pozen, Miriam Seifter

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay explores the people's right to amend state constitutions and threats to that right today. It explains how democratic proportionality review can help courts distinguish unconstitutional infringement of the right from legitimate regulation. More broadly, the Essay considers the distinctive state constitutional architecture that popular amendment illuminates.

Marriage On The Ballot: An Analysis Of Same-Sex Marriage Referendums In North Carolina, Minnesota, And Washington During The 2012 Elections, Craig M. Burnett, Mathew D. Mccubbins

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Legislative Reform Of California’S Direct Democracy: A Field Guide To Recent Efforts, Glenn C. Smith

Faculty Scholarship

This Article seeks to enhance the ability of California-initiative process reformers to gain wisdom from the past by briefly, yet comprehensively, reviewing recent proposals considered in the California legislature. Specifically, this "field guide" to initiative reform seeks to orient interested travelers to relevant California legislative exertions from 1997 to the present.' Although our orientation is informed by the entire range of legislative proposals within the dataset, we give special focus to bills proposing to enhance initiative-process deliberation-the ability of voters to understand and meaningfully deliberate about initiative proposals. We also concentrate on two categories of initiative-reform legislation during the period: …

More D (Deliberation) For California’S Dd (Direct Democracy): Enhancing Voter Understanding And Promoting Deliberation Through Streamlined Notice-And-Comment Procedures, Glenn Smith

Faculty Scholarship

This article seeks to enhance public consideration of the pros and cons of streamlining California's informal-administrative-rulemaking procedures for reforming the state's direct democracy. To provide a concrete focus for discussion and quick adoption, Appendix I includes proposed amendments to existing California statutory provisions. This article provides a context for considering the proposed legislation by elaborating on five questions: Why Deliberation? (Part I): In this Part, the Article makes the case, both on the substantive merits and on practical political grounds, for focusing on deliberation-enhancement as the best "next wave" of initiative reform.8 Why the Administrative Model? (Part II): This Part …

When Voters Make Laws: How Direct Democracy Is Shaping American Cities, Elizabeth Garrett, Mathew D. Mccubbins

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

For Whom The Tel Tolls: Can State Tax And Expenditure Limits Effectively Reduce Spending?, Thad Kousser, Mathew D. Mccubbins, Ellen Moule

Faculty Scholarship

Can voters stop state governments from spending at high rates through the enactment of tax and expenditure limits (TELs), or do these laws become dead letters? We draw upon the principal-agent literature to theorize that TELs – one of the most frequent uses of the initiative process across the country – may be circumvented by the sorts of elected officials who would inspire their passage.

In order to investigate our claim, we conduct an event study. First, we test for the effectiveness of TELs across states using a differences-in-differences model. Second, we dissect our treatment variable using different legal provisions …

Solving The ‘Initiatory Construction’ Puzzle (And Improving Direct Democracy) By Appropriate Refocusing On Sponsor Intent, Glenn Smith

Faculty Scholarship

This Article synthesizes and critiques a dozen years of scholarship about judicial construction of legislation passed by voter initiative. The Article then makes a comprehensive case for an alternative approach: an appropriately enhanced focus on the intent of initiative sponsors. More specifically, the Article validates, through analysis of recent California decisions, a longstanding scholarly consensus that the prevailing judicial search for "the intent of the voters" is seriously flawed. The Article provides the first synthesis to date of reform proposals offered by "initiatory-construction" scholars; the discussion contends that these proposals collectively fail four key evaluation criteria. Building on the 2003 …