Background
Now that Assembly Constitutional Amendment 13 (Ward) has been approved by two-thirds of the California Legislature, California voters will be asked in November 2024 to decide whether an initiative constitutional amendment containing provisions that increase vote thresholds should be required to attain the same proportion of votes in favor of the amendment that the proposed increased vote thresholds would demand.
- i.e., if an initiative constitutional amendment includes a provision that would impose a supermajority (e.g., three-fifths, two-thirds, four-fifths, etc.) voter approval threshold, then that initiative would be required to gain the approval of the same super majority (three-fifths, two-thirds, four-fifths, etc.; whatever threshold the initiative proposes) of California voters in order to pass
- if the initiative constitutional amendment includes provisions that impose a supermajority vote threshold and fails to gain the corresponding supermajority of voters in support of the underlying amendment, the initiative constitutional amendment would not be considered approved, thereby failing in its entirety
Because ACA 13 protects the democratic process in local communities by ensuring that a simple majority of statewide voters cannot restrict the will of a supermajority of voters in a local community, CSDA adopted its support position and provided the author's office with a letter of support. CSDA is also encouraging its members to submit letters of support, and has drafted a sample letter of support to better facilitate this process.