A legislative referral (or legislative referendum) is a
referendum
A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...
in which a
legislature
A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...
puts proposed legislation up for popular vote. This may either be voluntarily or, as is the case in many countries for a constitutional amendment, as a
mandatory part of the procedure for passing a law. These referrals, depending on the location, can either amend a
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed.
When these pri ...
or enact a change in
statute
A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...
. It is a form of
direct democracy
Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate directly decides on policy initiatives, without legislator, elected representatives as proxies, as opposed to the representative democracy m ...
. In some places it is known as an authorities referendum, authorities plebiscite, government initiated referendum
, or top-down referendum
It may originate from the
legislative branch
A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the authority, legal authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with th ...
,
executive branch, or a combination of the two.
An instrument of
direct democracy
Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate directly decides on policy initiatives, without legislator, elected representatives as proxies, as opposed to the representative democracy m ...
, it is in contrast to citizens (or "bottom-up")
initiative that is initiated from the public.
With initiated statutes and amendments, voters both initiate and decide on the change of law. In a legislative referral, they only approve or reject laws which their legislature votes to place before them.
United States
Bond issues are a common type of legislatively referred ballot measure. In some states, such as
Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
, if the
state legislature in both chambers vote to put a measure on the ballot, the governor is not allowed to veto their action.
State statute
23
American states have a provision for referring statutory measures to the public as a ballot measure.
State constitutional amendment
Almost all legislatures in states and territories in the United States have the power to put state constitutional amendments to a referendum. In most cases these are
mandatory referendums, meaning that a referendum is a legal requirement in order for the amendment to be ratified.
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...
is the only state in which the people do not have the power to vote on constitutional amendments. Only the
Delaware legislature may vote on amendments.
See also
*
Initiative
*
Popular referendum
*
Recall election
A recall election (also called a recall referendum, recall petition or representative recall) is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of office has ended. Recalls ...
References
External links
The Legislatively Referred State Statute as defined on Ballotpedia
Direct democracy
Referendums
Legislatively referred ballot measures
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