Initiatives and Referenda Filed in 2012

There are two types of initiatives:

• Initiatives to the People, if certified to have sufficient signatures, are submitted for a vote of the people at the next state general election.
• Initiatives to the Legislature, if certified, are submitted to the Legislature at its next regular session in January. Once submitted, the Legislature must take one of the following three actions:
  1. The Legislature can adopt the initiative as proposed, in which case it becomes law without a vote of the people;
  2. The Legislature can reject or refuse to act on the proposed initiative, in which case the initiative must be placed on the ballot at the next state general election; or
  3. The Legislature can approve an alternative to the proposed initiative, in which case both the original proposal and the Legislature's alternative must be placed on the ballot at the next state general election.

There are two types of referenda:

• Referendum Measures are laws recently passed by the Legislature that are placed on the ballot because of petitions signed by voters.
• Referendum Bills are proposed laws referred to the voters by the Legislature.