Lawmakers increasingly overriding citizen-led ballot initiatives
Legislatures and governors are not afraid of undermining — or even downright repealing — citizen initiatives that win at the ballot box. Governing magazine explains.
When voters want something done on an issue and their elected officials fail to act, they may turn to citizen initiatives to pursue their goals instead. Nearly half the states, 24 of them, allow citizen initiatives.
It is becoming increasingly common for lawmakers across the country to not only ignore the will of the people but also actively work against it. From 2010 to 2015, about 21 percent of citizen initiatives were altered by lawmakers after they passed. From 2016 to 2018, lawmakers altered nearly 36 percent of passed citizen initiatives.
Often lawmakers rewrite laws passed through initiative. Some revisions change key components of the initiatives, while others amend technical details.
In some cases, it is not the legislature that opposes the will of the voters, but the governor. In recent years, several Republican governors have refused to implement Medicaid expansions passed by voter initiatives.
Lawmakers who rewrite or overturn ballot initiatives sometimes argue that voters do not understand what they are supporting. Lawmakers, unlike citizens, have to balance state budgets every year, and they often raise questions about how to pay for the policies or programs passed by initiative.
Lawmakers also argue that outside groups play an outsized role in passing ballot initiatives. While political science research provides some support for this claim, outside groups also have influence in the regular legislative process. And they often work to defeat initiatives as well.--Governing magazine
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