How does the 7/8th requirement for changing Prop 22 square with your thinking of it as a referendum?
Everybody agrees that AB5 is flawed and needs more work. But Prop 22 let money-losing, worker-exploiting companies literally write the law they wanted and made sure nobody could change it. A referendum on AB5 would have forced discussion and improvement. This closes that off.
By default propositions are unchangeable by legislature. 7/8ths is a very high bar but most propositions give the legislature no ability to modify it. Further propositions could modify or remove it by a simple majority.
For better or worse, this is the system working as intended. The point of the proposition system is to let the people pass laws the legislature refuses to. It would be pointless if the legislature could overturn or gut propositions with a simple majority vote.
> most propositions give the legislature no ability to modify it.
All the other statute initiative propositions on the CA ballot this year included a lower threshold than Prop 22 (ranging from 51% to 75%).
However, none of them (including Prop 22) allow the legislature to overturn it even if they achieve the threshold - only to modify "in furtherance of the original purposes" of the proposition.
The 7/8th requirement only applies to the state legislature, not to the people. prop 22 can still be overturned by a simple majority in a new referendum.
AB5 passed with 80% of the vote, so requiring a lower threshold would be self-defeating.
The 7/8th requirement is fantastic because we can all stop arguing about it now, unlike Prop 13. I’m glad that this issue has been decided basically once and for all, and I hope someone comes up with a future proposition with the same 7/8 requirement for Prop 13 so we stop arguing over that as well.
I'm trying to figure out if you're being sarcastic. I'll assume not.
Prop 13 is the landmark example of a ballot initiative that set super-majority thresholds for legislature. In it's case, the ability to create new taxes-- a property which has been specifically (and unsuccessfully) litigated against: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/la-xpm-2011-dec-26-la-oe-new...
Everybody agrees that AB5 is flawed and needs more work. But Prop 22 let money-losing, worker-exploiting companies literally write the law they wanted and made sure nobody could change it. A referendum on AB5 would have forced discussion and improvement. This closes that off.