California Unicameral Nonpartisan Legislature Initiative (2020)
| California Unicameral Nonpartisan Legislature Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 3, 2020 | |
| Topic State legislatures measures | |
| Status Gathering signatures | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
The California Unicameral Nonpartisan Legislature Initiative (#19-0012) may appear on the ballot in California as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020.
The ballot measure would replace California's partisan bicameral legislature with a nonpartisan unicameral legislature—similar to the Nebraska State Legislature. The ballot measure would require 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
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.[1]
See also
External links
Footnotes
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