California Unicameral Nonpartisan Legislature Initiative (2020)
| California Unicameral Nonpartisan Legislature Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 3, 2020 | |
| Topic State legislatures measures | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
The California Unicameral Nonpartisan Legislature Initiative (#19-0012) was not on the ballot in California as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020.
The ballot measure would have replaced California's partisan bicameral legislature with a nonpartisan unicameral legislature—similar to the Nebraska State Legislature. The ballot measure would have required that the number of seats in the unicameral legislature be a ratio of one seat per 80,000, with an upward limit of one seat per 100,000 persons.[1]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The official ballot title was as follows:[2]
| “ |
Replaces State Senate And Assembly With Single-house Legislature; Increases Number Of Legislators. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.[3] |
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Petition summary
The summary provided for inclusion on signature petition sheets was as follows:[2]
| “ |
Replaces current State Senate and Assembly of 40 Senators and 80 Assemblymembers with a nonpartisan single-house legislature starting in 2022, initially consisting of 250 legislators. Starting in 2024, the single-house legislature would have one legislator for every 80,000 to 100,000 persons in California. The number of legislators would be updated every ten years to reflect population changes as reported by the national Census. Legislators in the single-house legislature would serve four-year terms, and could serve for no more than twelve years.[3] |
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Fiscal impact
The fiscal impact statement was as follows:[2]
| “ |
One-time costs of hundreds of millions of dollars to expand the State Capitol in Sacramento, with ongoing increased building maintenance costs of a few million dollars annually. Increased state costs of millions of dollars per year to oversee elections. Increased county costs of up to the low tens of millions of dollars annually to administer elections. Increased state costs of millions of dollars for the Citizen Redistricting Commission each decade.[3] |
” |
Full text
The full text of the ballot measure is available here.
Path to the ballot
In California, the number of signatures required for an initiated constitutional amendment is equal to 8 percent of the votes cast in the preceding gubernatorial election. Petitions are allowed to circulate for 180 days from the date the attorney general prepares the petition language. Signatures need to be certified at least 131 days before the general election. As the verification process can take multiple months, the secretary of state provides suggested deadlines for ballot initiatives.
The requirements to get initiated constitutional amendments certified for the 2020 ballot:
- Signatures: 997,139 valid signatures were required.
- Deadline: The deadline for signature verification was June 25, 2020. However, the process of verifying signatures can take multiple months. The recommended deadlines were March 3, 2020, for an initiative requiring a full check of signatures and April 21, 2020, for an initiative requring a random sample of signatures.
Signatures are first filed with local election officials, who determine the total number of signatures submitted. If the total number is equal to at least 100 percent of the required signatures, then local election officials perform a random check of signatures submitted in their counties. If the random sample estimates that more than 110 percent of the required number of signatures are valid, the initiative is eligible for the ballot. If the random sample estimates that between 95 and 110 percent of the required number of signatures are valid, a full check of signatures is done to determine the total number of valid signatures. If less than 95 percent are estimated to be valid, the initiative does not make the ballot.
Stages of this initiative
On August 19, 2019, Sharon Durst filed the ballot initiative. Signatures were not filed to place the measure on the ballot.[1]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 California Attorney General, "Initiative #19-0012," August 19, 2019
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 California Secretary of State, "Initiatives and Referenda Cleared for Circulation," accessed October 24, 2019
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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