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HOUSING FOR
CALIFORNIA
ACA 13 SILENCES VOTER VOICES
The legislature shouldn’t try to change the California constitution — just because they are afraid the voters might vote for something they don’t like.
ACA 13 is a proposed state constitutional amendment that dramatically weakens a voter’s ability to affect state law through the initiative process. It would make it much harder to pass initiatives where the majority of citizens believe the government should be constrained in what it does by making it harder to change laws that the people believe deserve extra protection. While ACA 13 is aimed at an initiative that would constrain government’s ability to impose certain taxes without voter approval it would also include constraining the ability of citizens to pass initiatives that limit the government’s ability to change consumer protection, fair housing or environmental laws.
The legislature shouldn’t be attempting to change California’s constitution just because they fear voters might not agree with what they want.
California should also NOT try to be Ohio or Florida, where supermajority state legislatures tried to extend their reach by weakening voters’ ability to use the initiative process. In Ohio, the state legislature placed on the ballot a measure that would have increased the vote percentage necessary to amend their state’s constitution in an attempt to weaken the ability of voters to reverse an anti-abortion law using the initiative process. Ohio voters soundly rejected that attempt. In California, the policy aim appears to be the ability to more easily change the vote threshold required to increase or impose taxes. Just because the legislature may not like what the citizens want to do currently with taxation is not a reason to change the rules.
Don’t play politics with voters’ voices.
Vote NO on ACA 13.
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