Initiative and Referenda

Initiative and referenda are actions that allow the voters of a city, state, or county a certain amount of direct control over lawmaking. It allows people to take direct political action if their representatives decline to pass some legislation that the people want. Sam Reed states, “The initiative process is the direct power of the voters to enact new laws or change existing laws. It allows the electorate to petition to place proposed legislation on the ballot. The initiative’s only limitation is that it cannot be used to amend the State Constitution.” Initiatives enable the voters to introduce a law while referenda enable a proposed law to be submitted to the people for approval. In the States that use initiative, any individual can draw up a propose law. If a certain number of voters sign a petition, the proposed law goes either to the voters or to the lawmaking in which they must vote on it.

There are two types of initiatives: the initiative to the people and the initiative to the legislature. The initiative to the people is the method in which certified to have enough signatures are submitted for a vote of the people at the next state general election. On the other hand, initiative to the legislature is the process in which certified are submitted to the legislature at its regular session in each January and once submitted, the legislature will either adopt the initiative as proposed, refuse to act on the proposed initiative, or approve an amended version of the proposed initiative.
Referenda is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may be the adoption of a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. The referendum puts a proposed law on the ballot at the next general election or at a special election. Sam Reed states, “The referendum allows citizens, through the petition process, to refer acts of the legislature to the ballot before they become law. The referendum also permits the legislature itself to refer proposed legislation to the electorate for approval or rejection” The process also includes the filing of a petition with a required number of registered voters, prior to the effective date of the ordinance.” Dr. Sell states, “Referenda allow the legislature to pass measures along for a public vote; it also allows citizens to grab a recently passed law and force it to the ballot.”

There are two types of referenda: the referendum bill and the referendum measure. These referendums allow the voters to either approve or reject laws proposed or enacted by the legislature. Referendum bills are proposed laws referred to the electorate by the legislature and referendum measure are laws passed by the legislature that are placed on the ballot due to the petition signed by legislature. On the other hand, a number of cities and states hold a statutory referendum, in which it allows citizens to vote on laws passed by the legislature or proposed by an initiative. There are three kinds of statuary referendums: compulsory referendum, optional referendum, and referendum by petition. A compulsory referendum requires that the city or state to submit a certain kinds of measures to be vote by the people. Those measures may include proposals to issue municipal bonds, to raise property taxes for local schools, or to change the boundaries of city. An optional referendum allows the legislature to submit controversial measures to a direct vote of the people. A referendum by petition is the process in which it required a number of citizens demand that a bill be submitted to a vote. The required number of voters must sign a petition objecting to the bill during the waiting period. Washington State holds a referendum when 4 percent of the voters request it.

Initiative and referendum has plays an important role in the Washington State politics. It has given the citizens direct voice in the State and local government. Initiative and referendum has established important laws such as the Public Disclosure Commission. The Public Disclosure Commission was formed and empowered by initiative of the citizen to provide timely and useful public access to information about financing of political campaigns, lobbyist expenditures, and the financial affairs of public officials and candidates, and to make certain compliance with disclosure provision, contribution limits, campaign practices and other campaign finance laws.

The initiative measure No. 397 concerns traffic flow on public roads and highways. This initiative was filed on 9/06/2007 by Mr. Tim Eyman. The initiative No. 397 proposed the opening of carpool lanes to everyone during non-peak hours, requires synchronization of traffic lights on heavily-traveled arterials, and expands for emergency roadside assistance. In addition, it also proposed the dedication of portion (4.4%) of existing vehicle sales taxes to help funding increase traffic flow policies. Heavy traffic on highways and roadways result in long delays which could have negative impact on business. Heavy traffics are caused by collisions, disabled vehicles, spills, or other events that impede the normal flow of traffic.

Tim Eyman states, “The objective of synchronizing traffic signals is to allow progression through the arterial with the fewest stops at intersections, while minimizing delay for the side street. Synchronizing traffic lights creates more uniform speeds along streets, increases traffic flow, reduces time delays at intersections, and creates opportunities for traffic from the side streets to safely enter the main street.” The initiative No. 397 measure includes opening carpool lanes to all vehicles Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday nights from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., and from 6:00 p.m. Friday to 6:00 a.m. Monday. Opening our carpool lanes to everyone during non-peak hours will make travel times faster, increase traffic flow, decrease traffic congestion, increase safety and freight mobility.

Work Cities
Sell, T.M. “Elections”: State & Local Government. Highline Community College, 2007. http://blackboard.highline.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_316_1%26url%3D
Reed, Sam. Filing Initiatives and Referenda in Washington State, “Introduction” 2007. http://www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/pdf/Filing_Initiative_and_Referenda_Manual_2005-2008.pdf
Eyman, Tim. Initiative 397. “Policies and Purpose”. 2007 http://www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/initiatives/text/i397.pdf