Locating State Referendums, Initiatives and Propositions (7/09)
Many states permit the electorate to vote on ballot measures that add, modify or delete state laws, or amend state constitutions. These ballot measures have different labels depending upon the individual state. They may be called referendums, initiatives, propositions, constitutional amendments or ballot measures. LexisNexis publishes copies of these ballot measures together with the other laws passed by the various state legislative bodies. The text is included in the bill text files for the individual states.
Recently, ballot measures have been voted on for a variety of topics, including the following:
- Abortion: including bans on partial-birth abortions and outright bans on abortion
- Same-sex marriages
- Domestic partnerships
- Prohibition on smoking in public places
The text of ballot measures can be located by the ballot measure number of the individual state. Within the states, however, the ballot measures are more commonly known by their referendum, initiative or proposition number. For example, California Ballot Measure 17 banning same-sex marriage is better known as Proposition 8. To locate the text of Proposition 8, you need to know the number of the ballot measure. Since the text of the ballot measure does not usually list the referendum, initiative or proposition number, you need to take a two-tiered approach to retrieving the text.
The first step in locating referendums, initiatives or propositions is to determine the ballot measure number. The ballot measure number is listed in the individual bill tracking report for the ballot measure, which also lists the referendum, initiative or proposition number. The bill tracking report for the current session of the California legislature can be located using the following path (a similar path exists for all other states as well):
States Legal - U.S. > California > Find Statutes, Regulations, Administrative Materials & Court Rules > CA Bill Tracking Reports
If the referendum, initiative or proposition is from a previous year, you will need to use a group file that contains all 50 states. For instance, if you are looking for Proposition 8 from California, which was passed in 2008, use the following source:
Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K. > U.S. States > State Bill Tracking (Historical) > State Net Bill Tracking - All States, 2008
In the group file, run the following search to locate California’s Proposition 8:
synopsis (proposition or referendum or amendment pre/2 8) and cite (ca)
For a referendum, initiative or proposition in a state other than California, replace “ca” in the parenthesis with the postal code of the state you are searching. If you are searching in a database containing the current bill tracking reports, you can eliminate the part of the search string following the first closed parenthesis.
The bill tracking report for Proposition 8 contains references to Ballot Measure 17. You can now take this information and formulate a search in the bill text file to retrieve a copy of the Proposition. The source you want to search is the following:
Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K. > U.S. States > State Bill Text (Historical) > State Net Full Text of Bills, All States 2008
To retrieve the text, use the following search:
heading (ballot measure 17) and cite (ca)
As with the search for bill tracking reports, if you want to search a state other than California, replace the “ca” with the postal abbreviation of the state you want to search. If you are searching in the current bill text file, you can eliminate the cite segment altogether.
For additional information on segment searches and searches for legislative history, visit the LexisNexis® Support Center.
