Globe Contributor Publishes ‘Practical Guide on Direct Democracy’
The book contains 19 short chapters and explains the key legal aspects of the initiative, referendum, and recall
By Katy Grimes, April 29, 2024 2:30 am
Long-time California Globe contributor Chris Micheli has published the newest edition of his series of “practical guides” on California state government topics. The short book is titled “A Practical Guide to Direct Democracy in California.” It covers the three forms of direct democracy provided by California’s Constitution: initiative, referendum, and recall. This is the tenth book in his “practical guide” series.
“Direct democracy is such an important topic in California politics. It has been a core component of our state Constitution since adoption in the early 1900s and voters continue to use all three forms on a regular basis,” Micheli explained. “This practical guide is meant to give the average reader enough detail to understand the purpose and use of the initiative, referendum, and recall processes in our state.”
The book contains 19 short chapters and explains the key legal aspects of the initiative, referendum, and recall. Some of the chapters are in a question-and-answer format, while the others provide detailed descriptions of the constitutional and statutory provisions of these forms of direct democracy. California is one of about two dozen states that have forms of direct democracy in place.
The book is available on Amazon for $12.99 in paperback format or $9.99 in ebook format. It can be purchased HERE.
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“Direct democracy” only works effectively with EDUCATED, INVOLVED voters, not those that are easily swayed by teevee advertising or union requirements…
Which is probably why California governance has been a dumpster fire for most of my adult life….
Californians are lucky to have a tool to fix their government. Certainly it could be improved and updated, and it’s high time those complaining about how the ballot initiative works in CA used it to address their concerns and make the process better. Particularly useful would be leveraging technology to open up every stage of the citizen lawmaking process in intelligently designed ways to address some of the failures of the courts and federal government in providing for a democratic public sphere, and to reduce the role of money.
Some interesting possibilities suggested here:
https://democracynyc.org