The ballot initiative process has long been California's fourth branch of government. It serves as a major generator of state laws and is a way to make policy when the elected state legislature and governor fail to act in a manner that satisfies all interested parties. Initiatives have addressed policy areas ranging from the political process, business regulations and taxes to insurance, education and criminal justice. Moreover, the number of initiatives circulated, qualified and adopted in this state has reached record proportions in recent decades, jumping more than six-fold since the 1960s.

Because the initiative process has become such a critical part of California's government, it is important that it functions in a way that produces well written and thoroughly considered laws, and that it fortifies, rather than undermines, the state's policymaking process. CGS has consulted supporters and opponents of the initiative process and is now drafting a series of reforms that would improve the process.

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CGS just released the second edition of its influential report, Democracy by Initiative: Shaping California's Fourth Branch of Government. The report analyzes the ballot initiative process, concludes that the process is necessary but flawed and proposes a comprehensive and balanced package of reforms that, taken together, would remedy the problems pinpointed by both supporters and opponents of the initiative process. Click here to view the Press Release announcing the publication of the report.

• Online Signature Gathering for California Initiatives (2008)
• Democracy by Initiative: Shaping California's Fourth Branch of Government, 2nd Edition
• Democracy by Initiative: Shaping California's Fourth Branch of Government (1992)
• To Govern Ourselves: Ballot Initiatives in the Los Angeles Area (1992)