The Initiative, Referendum, and Recall
By S. B. H.
THERE is at present a wide-spread discussion concerning the merits of the Initiative, Referendum, and Recall as a curative for the ills prevailing in the legislative, judicial, and executive departments of government. What is the Initiative, Referendum, and Recall? With no idea of referring to this question in a partizan way, we will state as best we can the meaning of these terms. We might say at the outset that there are thirteen States of the Union that have adopted the Initiative and Referendum, as follows: Oregon, Arkansas, Missouri, Colorado, Nevada, Oklahoma, Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming, Maine, California, New Mexico, and Arizona. Oregon was among the first, if not the first, to adopt the Initiative, Referendum, and Recall, which were incorporated into its constitution in June, 1902, by a vote of 62,024 as against 5,668; and the last State admitted into the Union, Arizona, has the doctrine of Initiative and Referendum as part of its constitutional law. Inasmuch as Arizona is likely to have the most approved and latest phraseology of these provisions in her constitution, we shall briefly refer to Article 4 of that constitution:— “SECTION 1.—(1) The legislative authority of the State shall be vested in a legislature, consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives, but the people reserve the power to propose laws and amendments to the constitution and to enact or reject such laws and amendments at the polls, independently of the legislature; and they also reserve, for use at their own option, the power to propose or reject at the polls any act, or item, section, or part of any act, of the legislature. “(2) The first of these reserved powers is the Initiative. Under this power ten per centum of the qualified electors shall have the right to propose any measure, and fifteen per centum shall have the right to propose any amendment to the constitution.” That is to say that while provision is made for a body of lawmakers known as a legislature, the electors reserve the power to legislate directly; and that ten per cent of the voting population of the State may propose any measure which may occur to them as being necessary for the welfare of the community, and fifteen per cent of the electorate may propose any amendment to the constitution. “(3) The second of these reserved powers is the Referendum. Under this power the legislature or five per cent of the qualified electors may order the submission to the people at the polls of any measure, or item, section, or part of any measure, enacted by the legislature, except laws immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or for the support and maintenance of the departments of the State government and State institutions; but to allow opportunity for Referendum Petitions, no act passed by the legislature shall be operative for ninety days after the close of the legislature enacting such measure except such as require earlier operation to preserve the public peace, health, or safety, or to provide appropriations for the support and maintenance of the departments of State and of State institutions; provided that no such emergency measure shall be considered passed by the legislature unless it shall state in a separate section why it is necessary that it shall become immediately operative, and shall be approved by the affirmative votes of two thirds of the members elected to each house of the legislature, taken by roll-call of ayes and nays, and also approved by the governor; and, should such measure be vetoed by the governor, shall not become a law unless it shall be approved by the votes of three fourths of the members elected to each house of the legislature, taken by roll-call of ayes and nays.” That is to say, five per cent of the qualified electors may order any measure, with certain exceptions, enacted by the legislature to be submitted to the qualified voters for their approval or disapproval; ninety days must elapse before any act passed by the legislature shall be operative in order to permit the power of the Referendum to be exercised; and an emergency measure which, the legislature feels called upon to enact can not be passed by that body unless it shall state the necessity for its becoming immediately operative, and it must be approved by the affirmative votes of two thirds of the members of each house on a yea and nay vote, and approved by the governor also. The manner of exercising the power of the Initiative is through petitions submitted and filed with the secretary of state not less than four months preceding the date of the election at which the measures so proposed are to be voted upon. These petitions are called Initiative Petitions. In the exercise of the power of the Referendum, petitions to be known as Referendum Petitions “shall be filed with the secretary of state not more than ninety days after the final adjournment of the session of the legislature which shall have passed the measure to which the Referendum is applied. The filing of a Referendum Petition against any item, section, or part of any measure, shall not prevent the remainder of such measure from becoming operative.” It will be seen that under the Initiative, petitions must be filed not less than four months preceding the date of the election at which the measures so proposed are to be voted upon; and, in the matter of the Referendum, the electors will have opportunity within ninety days after the final adjournment of the session of the legislature to file a veto against any item, section, or part of any given measure enacted at that session. In case the constitution is to be amended under the Initiative, it shall be “referred to a vote of the qualified electors, and shall become law when approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon and upon proclamation of the governor, and not otherwise.” The veto power of the governor under this system is referred to as follows:— “(6) The veto power of the governor shall not extend to Initiative or Referendum measures approved by a majority of the qualified electors.” In regard to the recall of public officers, the constitution of Arizona, which is in substance the same as those of other States operating under the same system, provides:— “Every public officer in the State of Arizona, holding an elective office, either by election or appointment, is subject to recall from such office by the qualified electors of the electoral district from which candidates are elected to such office. Such electoral district may include the whole State. Such number of said electors as shall equal twenty-five per centum of the number of votes cast at the last preceding general election for all the candidates for the office held by such officer, may by petition, which shall be known as a Recall Petition, demand his recall.” Under this provision, a general statement of not more than two hundred words, giving the grounds for the recall, is required to be filed with the proper State officer. This general statement must be filed by at least twenty-five per cent of the voters at the preceding general election. The official concerned may respond to this petition demanding his recall, in not more than two hundred words in justification of his course in office. A special election is then to be ordered held not less than twenty nor more than thirty days after such order, to determine whether such officer shall be recalled. In the meantime, he is to perform the duties of his office. The Recall applies to any and all officers, from the governor down to the person holding the lowest office, and includes the legislative, judicial, and executive departments of the government. More recently, the question has been agitated of recalling the decisions of judges and courts. S. B. H.