Abstract
Direct democracy cannot implement itself. From Nebraska’s introduction of a state law authorizing the initiative at the local level in 1897,1 through the first constitutional amendments authorizing state-wide initiative processes in several states at the turn of the Twentieth Century, and subsequent efforts to expand the initiative power to approximately half the states,2 legislatures must share the legislative power with the people in states that provide the initiative. After the initial allocation of legislative power to initiative processes, usually through relatively detailed constitutional provisions, state legislatures become responsible for supporting the initiative power. In authorizing initiatives, state constitutions also authorize enabling legislation necessary for filing, legislative review, petition circulation processes and timelines, signature verification, and balloting. Legislatures also may attempt to specify or supplement the requirements to qualify an initiative, or even limit the initiative through subject matter restrictions or additional procedural hurdles. Legislatures also must authorize various state executive branch and local officials to facilitate the petitioning and balloting processes.
Recommended Citation
Anthony Johnstone,
The Separation of Legislative Powers in the Initiative Process,
101 Neb. L. Rev.
(2022)
Available at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nlr/vol101/iss1/6