The state Attorney General’s Office is currently reviewing at least 32 proposed ballot initiatives and you can bet that we will likely see more than two dozen qualify for the November ballot. California, where voters cast their opinion via the ballot box, enacts many laws – some controversial, and the state continues to allow and promote the initiative and “direct legislation” routes to address problems being ducked by the legislature. Every voter must be trusted to self-educate on issues well enough to discern fact from fiction; seeing beyond the TV ads, mountains of mailers and conflicting messages, all-the-while forfeiting true public debate and the input of their elected officials.

Aside from legislators shirking their responsibilities, the recent explosion of ballot initiatives is further fueled by a system that makes it fairly easy for just about any organization or interest group to put an initiative on the ballot. For a cost of about $3 million, the necessary signatures can be gathered to qualify a measure for the ballot. Not a prohibitive amount by today’s standards and for those parties that are limited in resources, a large volunteer group can gather the amount of signatures needed at little or no cost to the sponsoring group.

What was once the work of elected lawmakers who have had the benefit of multiple public hearings, staff analysis and institutional memory is now up to the voter. Sadly, it’s a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question by a paid signature gatherer outside of a local supermarket coupled with a one paragraph summary on a sample ballot by the independent Legislative Analyst’s Office that makes most feel ready for a vote. Yikes! Today’s initiatives are so complicated and filled with legalese that most people require a law degree to understand. We have all heard someone say, “I didn’t know what I was voting for” after the fact. This growing trend is not without consequence. Remember, any law adopted by the voters can only be changed by the voters. It’s really a sad commentary that these kinds of decisions are left up to individuals with no real accountability instead of those persons who ran for office, presumably to take the actions necessary to solve our state’s problems.

What to do – leave it to closed door politics or dangerous ballot box legislation? For me, the key is growing an informed electorate. What if we were to do away with the initiative process altogether and make the legislature actually do what they were elected to do? Making lawmakers accountable every two years with our votes rather than having the public do their work for them while they get a free ride to re-election.

Meanwhile, get educated and informed! Five of the 32 pending initiatives will directly impact hospitals and health care delivery. Let’s not leave it up to the best public relations effort to decide our fate for us…