The Democratic-led California Legislature voted to place an amendment to the state constitution on the ballot that seeks to thwart a business-led effort to make it harder to pass new taxes.
Citizens also can organize to change the California Constitution under the statewide initiative process. To qualify a proposed amendment for the ballot, proponents must gather voter signatures in support of the change, equal to at least 8% of the total votes cast in the last gubernatorial election. If those signatures are verified, the measure similarly goes before voters and requires a majority vote in a statewide election.
Democratic lawmakers with their labor union allies responded over the summer by introducing their own change to the constitution in the Legislature with ACA 13. Defeating the business-backed ballot measure has become high priority for Democrats and their allies. Raising the threshold for approval under ACA 13 from a majority of voters to two-thirds for the tax measure to pass would make it much harder for business interests to prevail. Unions say it’s only fair that if you want to increase the threshold for other measures, your own measure should be subject to the higher bar as well.