A legislative referral (or legislative referendum) is a
referendum in which a
legislature 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 or enact a change in
statute
A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...
. It is a form of
direct democracy
Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate decides on policy initiatives without legislator, elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently establishe ...
. 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,
executive branch
The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a State (polity), state.
In poli ...
, 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 decides on policy initiatives without legislator, elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently establishe ...
, 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 issue
In finance, a bond is a type of security under which the issuer (debtor) owes the holder (creditor) a debt, and is obliged – depending on the terms – to repay the principal (i.e. amount borrowed) of the bond at the maturity date as well as i ...
s are a common type of legislatively referred ballot measure. In some states, such as
Oregon, if the
state legislature
A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system.
Two federations literally use the term "state legislature":
* The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...
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 measure 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 is the only state in which the people do not have the power to vote on constitutional amendments. Only the
Delaware legislature
The Delaware General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Delaware. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Delaware Senate with 21 senators and the Delaware House of Representatives with 41 representatives. It meets at Legisla ...
may vote on amendments.
See also
*
Initiative
*
Recall election
*
Popular referendum
References
External links
The Legislatively Referred State Statute as defined on Ballotpedia
Direct democracy
Ballot measures
Legislatively referred ballot measures
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