The initiative--take it or leave it? citizens are using the initiative like never before. Some think that's good for democracy. Others worry it undermines our representative government.

• Author: Bowser, Jennifer Drage

Initiative and referendum lurked quietly in the background of state politics for much of the 20th century, but over the last 12 years they've come back strong.

Consider the numbers: There were 183 statewide votes on initiatives in the 1970s, 253 in the 1980s, and 383 in the 1990s--more than double the total from the 1970s. And California alone accounts for 130 of the total 819 measures during that 30-year period; Oregon can lay claim to 107. Between them, those two states account for nearly 30 percent of all initiatives from 1970 to 1999. It's no wonder people there are beginning to say initiatives are a problem.

Supporters say the resurgence of initiatives is great--it means citizens are using them as a tool to implement new laws and make reforms legislatures are unwilling or unable to enact. Besides changing policy, supporters also say initiatives increase citizen engagement with government--people are not only more aware of state policy issues, but are more likely to go out and vote.

In some states where the initiative is used heavily, however, people are beginning to speak out against it. And it's not just legislators. The governors in Arizona and Maine call for reform, and a wide range of citizen and business groups have offered their ideas. The California League of Women Voters submitted a menu of suggested reforms in 1999, and the City Club of Portland proposed changes for Oregon's initiative process in 1996.

Task forces are looking at the issue in several states. A group in Colorado called Save Our Constitution includes voices from just about every spectrum of the political rainbow-a wide range of citizen, business and local government groups, as well as current and former legislators.

One of the biggest problems in the minds of many lawmakers is that initiatives only ask voters to make simple yes or no decisions on very complex issues. "Voters don't have to make the same kinds of tough decisions legislators face in balancing competing needs with limited resources," says Oregon Representative Lane Shetterly, a member of NCSL's I&R Reform Task Force. "The legislature may acknowledge an issue as a priority, but, in the face of an upcoming revenue shortfall and with existing programs and services to fund, it just isn't always possible to fund a new program. Then the initiative comes along and does it anyway. It puts the legislature in a box, having to meet newly mandated needs as well as existing ones," Shetterly says.

He favors...