Charter: Referendum and initiative

by Derek Cosson November 4, 2009 Join the Discussion

Today, we continue our comparison of the City’s current charter to the proposed charter on which City electors will vote in a November 24 referendum. Under the new charter, the citizen referendum process would change, and a new provision would allow citizen ballot initiatives.

What we have now

Referendum on any action. The current charter allows citizens to force a referendum on any Council action whatsoever.

15% petition threshold. In order to force a referendum on a Council action, citizens must get 15% of the registered voters in the City to sign a petition within 60 days of the Council action.

No provision for initiative. While the current charter does allow citizens to force referendums on Council actions, it does not contain a provision enable citizen-led initiatives, which could be useful if for whatever reason a Council declined to take up an important issue.

What the new charter proposes

Referendum power limited. The new charter does place limits on what can be challenged by referendum. Firstly, under the new charter, the Council would no longer vote on contracts and purchases, other than to establish a budget. The mayor would be responsible for many purchases current handled by the City Council, such as purchases of police cars or street sweepers; such mayoral purchases could not be challenged by referendum. Regarding the ordinances and resolutions passed by Council, the proposed charter specifically excludes certain types of actions from challenge:

The electors are not empowered to reconsider measures that extend to providing an annual budget, levying taxes, or setting salaries of City officers or employees.

10% petition threshold. While the new charter would limit the actions on which referendums could be forced, it does lower the petition threshold to 10% of registered voters in the City, whereas the current charter requires 15%. The 60-day timeframe would remain the same.

Initiative provision. The proposed charter also allows for citizen initiatives, i.e. citizen groups could pass at the ballot box legislation which the Council refused to consider or pass. This initiative power has the same limitations as the referendum provision.