Abstract

This article addresses the concern that the California initiative agenda has been "captured" by the very business community it was designed to constrain. It discusses the various means by which the initiative agenda might be constrained, examines recent trends in the use of the initiative process by non-business groups, and evaluates claims that the cost of qualifying initiatives has become prohibitively expensive. Evidence suggests that the agenda has become more accessible in recent years, not less, and that the cost of qualifying remains relatively low for non-business groups seeking to place issues on the initiative agenda.