We support the voter initiative process as a check and balance against arrogant legislatures that lose touch with voters. There are 26 states that allow this voter override of rogue state legislatures and no state needs it more than California.  It was the famous Proposition 13 property tax revolt that saved California in the late 1970s.

All that may be in jeopardy given last week’s ruling by the California Supreme Court throwing a measure called the Taxpayer Protection Act off the ballot. It would have made it more difficult to hike the state’s already sky-high taxes.

Sponsored by the Business Roundtable, it would have required that most regulatory fees and charges be approved by the Legislature and voters. It also required voters to approve tax increases passed by the Legislature, and it required cities to win two-thirds voter approval before passing special taxes.

Governor Gavin Newsom sued the state claiming that such changes to the state Constitution could only be placed on the ballot by the Legislature. The court agreed even though Justice Goodwin Liu (the author of the majority opinion) noted that courts generally wait to address a measure’s constitutionality until “after an election, in order to avoid disrupting the electoral process and the exercise of the franchise.”

Perhaps the break from long-standing precedent is explained simply by the fact the court is now stacked with “woke”  progressive jurists.

Any business that was on the edge of deciding whether to move from California to a more friendly business climate may have just gotten all the information they needed to call a relocation specialist.