A referendum,plebiscite,or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal,law,or political issue. A referendum may be either binding or advisory.
California Proposition 187 was a 1994 ballot initiative to establish a state-run citizenship screening system and prohibit illegal immigrants from using non-emergency health care,public education,and other services in the State of California. Voters passed the proposed law at a referendum on November 8,1994. The law was challenged in a legal suit the day after its passage,and found unconstitutional by a federal district court on November 11. In 1999,Governor Gray Davis halted state appeals of this ruling.
In California,a ballot proposition is a referendum or an initiative measure that is submitted to the electorate for a direct decision or direct vote. If passed,it can alter one or more of the articles of the Constitution of California,one or more of the 29 California Codes,or another law in the California Statutes by clarifying current or adding statute(s) or removing current statute(s).
The Blaine Amendment was a failed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would have prohibited direct government aid to educational institutions that have a religious affiliation. Most state constitutions already had such provisions,and thirty-eight of the fifty states have clauses that prohibit taxpayer funding of religious entities in their state constitutions.
In the politics of the United States,the process of initiatives and referendums allow citizens of many U.S. states to place legislation on the ballot for a referendum or popular vote,either enacting new legislation,or voting down existing legislation. Citizens,or an organization,might start a popular initiative to gather a predetermined number of signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot. The measure is placed on the ballot for the referendum,or actual vote.
Proposition 200,the "Arizona Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act",was an Arizona state initiative passed in 2004 that basically requires:(a) persons to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote;(b) voters to present a photo identification before receiving a ballot at the polling place;and (c) state and local agencies to verify the identity and eligibility,based on immigration status,of applicants for non-federally mandated public benefits. The proposition also makes it a misdemeanor for public officials to fail to report violations of U.S. immigration law by applicants for those public benefits and permits private lawsuits by any resident to enforce its provisions related to public benefits. The requirement to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote was later ruled invalid in federal court.
Prior to the Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges (2015),U.S. state constitutional amendments banning same-sex unions of several different types passed,banning legal recognition of same-sex unions in U.S. state constitutions,referred to by proponents as "defense of marriage amendments" or "marriage protection amendments." These state amendments are different from the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment,which would ban same-sex marriage in every U.S. state,and Section 2 of the Defense of Marriage Act,more commonly known as DOMA,which allowed the states not to recognize same-sex marriages from other states. The amendments define marriage as a union between one man and one woman and prevent civil unions or same-sex marriages from being legalized,though some of the amendments bar only the latter. The Obergefell decision in June 2015 invalidated these state constitutional amendments insofar as they prevented same-sex couples from marrying,even though the actual text of these amendments remain written into the state constitutions.
The California Border Police Initiative was a proposed state ballot initiative seeking to amend the California Constitution to create a new state law enforcement agency called the "California Border Police." Proponents of the initiative failed in their effort to gather enough signatures to get it on the June 2006 statewide ballot.
Defend Colorado Now (DCN) was a ballot initiative introduced in January 2006 to amend the constitution of Colorado to deny non-emergency public services that are not required by federal law to illegal immigrants in Colorado. It was similar to the recently approved Arizona Proposition 200 (2004),which denied public services to illegal aliens and California Proposition 187 (1994) which was declared unconstitutional by the Federal Appeals Court.
Referendum H was a 2006 Colorado referendum to bar businesses from claiming a state income tax business deduction for wages paid to workers who were known at the time of hiring to be undocumented immigrants. It passed and it affected employees hired on and after January 1,2008.
Ballot Measure 2 of 1998 is a ballot measure,since ruled unconstitutional,that added an amendment to the Alaska Constitution that prohibited the recognition of same-sex marriage in Alaska. The Ballot measure was sparked by the lawsuit filed by Jay Brause and Gene Dugan,after the two men were denied a marriage license by the Alaska Bureau of Vital Statistics. In Brause v. Bureau of Vital Statistics, 1998 WL 88743,the Alaska Superior Court ruled that the state needed compelling reason to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples and ordered a trial on the question. In response,the Alaska Legislature immediately proposed and passed Resolution 42,which became what is now known as Ballot Measure 2. Ballot Measure 2 passed via public referendum on November 3,1998,with 68% of voters supporting and 32% opposing. The Bause case was dismissed following the passage of the ballot measure.
A sanctuary city is a municipality that limits or denies its cooperation with the national government in enforcing immigration law.
Russell Keith Pearce was an American politician who was a Republican (GOP) member of the Arizona State Senate. He rose to national prominence as the primary sponsor of Arizona SB1070,a controversial anti-illegal immigrant measure that was signed into law in 2010. He was elected President of the Arizona Senate when the Senate began its January 2011 term but then suffered a dramatic reversal of fortune when he was ousted in a November 2011 recall election,the first legislator in Arizona history to be so removed from office. He served as Vice-Chair of the Arizona GOP,but he resigned the position in September 2014 after controversy over a eugenicist comment about forced sterilization of poor women on Medicaid. His politics were widely described as far-right.
The 2009 Washington Referendum 71 (R-71) was a state referendum that legalized domestic partnership in Washington state,the first statewide referendum in the United States that extended to LGBT people the rights and responsibility of domestic partnership. The bill had passed State Legislature,and it was signed into law by the Governor in May 2009,but opponents gathered enough signatures to put the measure before the voters,who returned ballots by mail over three weeks ending on November 3,2009,approving the measure 53% to 47%. The new law went into effect 30 days later,on December 3,2009.
The legality of abortion in the United States and the various restrictions imposed on the procedure vary significantly,depending on the laws of each state or other jurisdiction,although there is no uniform federal law. Some states prohibit abortion at all stages of pregnancy,with few exceptions;others permit it up to a certain point in a woman's pregnancy,while some allow abortion throughout a woman's pregnancy. In states where abortion is legal,several classes of restrictions on the procedure may exist,such as parental consent or notification laws,requirements that patients be shown an ultrasound before obtaining an abortion,mandatory waiting periods,and counseling requirements.
The Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act is a 2010 legislative Act in the U.S. state of Arizona that was the broadest and strictest anti-illegal immigration law in the United States when passed. It has received international attention and has spurred considerable controversy.
Cannabis in Montana has been legal for both medical and recreational use since January 1,2021,when Initiative 190 went into effect. Prior to the November 2020 initiative,marijuana was illegal for recreational use starting in 1929. Medical cannabis was legalized by ballot initiative in 2004. The Montana Legislature passed a repeal to tighten Montana Medical Marijuana (MMJ) laws which were never approved by the governor. However,with the new provisions,providers could not service more than three patients. In November 2016 Bill I-182 was passed,revising the 2004 law and allowing providers to service more than three patients. In May 2023,numerous further bills on cannabis legalization and other related purposes passed the Montana Legislature. The Governor of Montana is yet to either sign or veto the bill.
2020 Missouri Amendment 2,also known as the Medicaid Expansion Initiative,was a ballot measure to amend the Constitution of Missouri to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The initiative was on the August 4,2020,primary ballot and passed with 53.27% of the vote. Following previous successful Medicaid expansion initiatives in other states,Republican lawmakers in Nebraska and Utah added work requirements to their states' Medicaid expansions,which supporters aimed to prevent by proposing state constitutional amendments for future Medicaid expansion initiatives. Opponents sued to prevent the initiative from being voted on,but courts ruled in the measure's favor. The measure was supported most in urban areas and opposed in rural areas. After a delay due to a lack of funding from the Missouri General Assembly and resulting litigation,the initiative was implemented in October 2021,albeit slowly. Republican lawmakers attempted to roll back the program and add a work requirement through a state constitutional amendment,which failed after the United States Supreme Court effectively prevented the implementation of one.
The 2022 Kansas abortion referendum was a rejected legislatively referred constitutional amendment to the Kansas Constitution that appeared on the ballot on August 2,2022,alongside primary elections for statewide offices,with early voting from July 13. If enacted,the amendment would have declared that the Kansas Constitution does not guarantee a right to abortion,giving the Kansas state government power to prosecute individuals involved in abortions,and further declared that the Kansas government is not required to fund abortions.
Kentucky Amendment 2 was a rejected legislatively referred constitutional amendment to the Kentucky Constitution,which was voted on as part of the 2022 elections. If enacted,the amendment would have declared that nothing in the Kentucky Constitution could be construed to protect a right to an abortion or public funding of an abortion.
