Initiatives: The Fourth Branch of California Government

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California-s most potent political weapon may not be the Terminator. Ever since Prop 13 capped the property tax in 1978, Californians have been legislating by the initiative, a vote of the people. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was elected in a classic example of direct democracy after Gray Davis was recalled, says he-ll ask for a vote of the people if the legislature doesn-t give him what he wants. Democratic lawmakers agreed to rescind a recent law granting drivers- licenses to illegal workers only after opponents agreed not to repeal the law with an initiative on the March ballot that would have precluded a compromise bill with the Governor. Whatever happened to representative government? We hear from a Sacramento columnist, a Republican strategist and an expert in governmental ethics.
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Roy Disney

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Host:

Warren Olney

Producer:

Frances Anderton