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November 01, 2009

Cal Chief Justice: Initiatives make California dysfunctional

From Chief Justice George's op-ed in the Chronicle:

"The Legislature (by a two-thirds vote of each house) shares the power to place proposed amendments before the electorate. California, however, is unique among American jurisdictions in prohibiting its Legislature, without express voter approval, from amending or repealing even a statutory measure enacted by the voters unless the initiative itself specifically confers this power.

Thus it is considerably easier to amend the California Constitution than the U.S. Constitution, under which an amendment may be proposed either by a vote of two-thirds of each house of Congress or by calling a convention. An amendment can be ratified only by the legislatures of (or by conventions held in) three-quarters of the states.

As a result, while only 17 amendments to the U.S. Constitution (in addition to the Bill of Rights, ratified in 1791) have been adopted since that document was ratified in 1788, more than 500 amendments to the California Constitution have been adopted since the document's ratification in 1879."

Posted by Randy Riddle at November 1, 2009 10:22 AM