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theses

In an attempt to curb the influence that special interests held over the state of California, especially that of the Southern Pacific Railroad, Governor Hiram Johnson convinced the voters in 1911 to enact direct democracy via the initiative, recall and referendum. The initiative gave California voters a way to bypass the Governor and State Legislature and propose laws and constitutional amendments directly to their fellow citizens via the ballot box. In the ensuing 104 years, nearly 2,000 initiatives would be circulated for qualification, but only 132 of those would successfully be passed by voters after making it onto the ballot. This study examines four of these successful direct democracy initiatives: 1966’s Proposition 1-A, that created a full-time legislature; 1978’s Proposition 13, which slashed property taxes; 1990’s Proposition 140, that enacted term limits; and Proposition 34 in 2000, which imposed campaign contribution limits on those seeking state office. In the case of each of these four initiatives, voters were promised by the advocates that if enacted, each would help curb the power of the special interests in California. But instead, this study will show that the combined effect of the four initiatives would unintentionally, but dramatically, shift the balance of power in state government away from the people and toward the large special interests that they were ironically designed to curb.

ETD_8177

M.A.

Includes bibliographical references

by John Bovee

doi:10.7282/T3HD7ZDH

ETD graduate

The author owns the copyright to this work.