Even if they lose, backers of California's bail industry may help themselves by going to the ballot in 2020

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-road-map-bail-referendum-
20180902-story.html

The referendum, which voters can use to rescind a law passed by their
elected officials, is a rarely used item in California’s direct democracy
toolbox. But if more businesses do what the state’s bail bonds industry is
now attempting, the referendum could grow into a powerful pushback on
Democrats who have firm control over the levers of power in Sacramento.

Last week, a consortium of bail bonds companies filed paperwork with the
state attorney general’s office to put Senate Bill 10 up to a vote of the
electorate. The bill, signed just one day earlier by Gov. Jerry Brown,
would end California’s cash bail system for criminal defendants in the
early fall of 2019.

Supporters and opponents agree: The new law is an existential threat to
bail companies, a plan to put them out of business. And so the referendum
was a no-brainer.

Bail companies need 365,880 valid voter signatures to earn a place on the
ballot, a historically low bar that’s led to long lists of ballot
propositions in 2016 and 2018. The hardest part of a referendum is that
signatures must be submitted within 90 days of the governor’s signing of
the law in question.

Ballot measure strategists expect bail companies would need to spend
around $3 million to make this happen. But compare that to estimates from
bail company advocates of a California industry that generates perhaps 30
times that amount every year, and the referendum is a pretty good bargain.

It’s an even better use of their money when you consider the other aspect
of how a referendum works: It suspends the enactment of the law in
question. While it’s possible the SB 10 referendum could appear on this
November’s ballot, the most likely scenario is that a successful effort
goes to voters in 2020. That would mean the earliest the law could take
effect, assuming voters sided with the Legislature and Brown, would be two
years from this December.

The delay would give bail companies time to pursue legal action against SB
10, as some have suggested it may run afoul of the U.S. Constitution. At
minimum, it would ensure bail companies remain in business for another two
years.

The strategy is similar to one used by the plastic bag industry in 2014.
When Brown signed the law banning single-use bags in most California
stores, the industry spent $2.8 million to place the issue on the 2016
ballot as a referendum, Proposition 67. Voters refused to reject the law,
but the delayed implementation gave plastic bag manufacturers a softer
landing than they would have otherwise had.

And there’s always a chance the bail industry wins on election day. The
message of their campaign, which would undoubtedly seek to portray the
pre-trial release of some criminal defendants as dangerous, could align
closely with a different criminal justice measure that’s already earned a
spot on the fall 2020 ballot — one seeking to roll back some of the parole
eligibility created by Brown’s Proposition 57 in 2016.

Government reformers have long argued the referendum could be the most
valuable form of direct democracy because it serves as a check on the
power wielded by the Legislature and governor. But it’s an opportunity
that, given the cost of collecting signatures and running campaigns, is
largely available only to influential interest groups.

As such, the referendum seems best suited to big industries that can
account for qualifying a ballot measure and thus lengthening the law-
making process as little more than the cost of doing business in the
Golden State. And that alone could usher in a fascinating new era for
California’s tendency to govern at the ballot box.



--
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party ran out of gas and got run over by a Trump
truck.

Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for cleaning up the disaster
of the Obama presidency.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.

ObamaCare is a total 100% failure and no lie that can be put forth by its
supporters can dispute that.

Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimum
wage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can't
be funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how great
it is.

Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.