Most California initiatives carry language that permits legislative
amendment to "advance the purposes of the initiative." This was included for
the first time in the early 1970s and has become the standard. Before that,
one effective argument against initiatives was that if something turns out
wrong with one or isn't working properly, it can't be amended without going
back to the voters. So, those of us who were writing initiatives in the
early 70s came up with this as a solution and it has proved popular in focus
groups and polls, although I don't know that anyone has tested in the last
25 years. It was partially for the same reason that we began in the early
70s to include the severability clause in initiatives.
Larry Levine


----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick Hasen" <Rick.Hasen@lls.edu>
To: "election-law" <election-law@majordomo.lls.edu>
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2003 8:14 PM
Subject: message from Jeff Even re: initiatives and legislatures

Jeff Even wrote:

In response to the question as to whether a state legislature can repeal

or

amend a law adopted by initiative (specifically, in the question, a term
limits initiative):

In Washington, the state constitution permits the Legislature to amend or
repeal any initiative if they do so more than two years after its

enactment.

The Legislature can also amend, but not repeal, an initiative within that
initial two years if they do so by a 2/3 majority. Wash. Const. art. II,
section 1(c).

Jeff Even
Assistant Attorney General
Solicitor General's Team
PO Box 40100
Olympia, WA 98504-0100
voice: (360) 586-0728
fax: (360) 664-2963
jeffe@atg.wa.gov