Rob Bonta's bad-faith rebranding of ballot initiative
For more than 100 years, California citizens have held an extraordinary power — the right to bypass their politicians and vote directly on laws through ballot initiatives. Recent actions by Attorney General Rob Bonta threaten to permanently undermine that right.
In September, Protect Kids California submitted a proposed ballot initiative — presented as the “Protect Kids of California Act of 2024”— for voters to consider this November. The initiative would allow California voters to weigh in on important issues, including: whether parents should be notified if their children are transitioning their gender in school; whether schools should ensure that the use of locker rooms and participation on sports teams align with a student's sex; whether sex-change surgeries and treatments should be available to minors; and whether the definitions of “male” and “female” under state law should be based upon biology.
The proponents' stated goals are to protect parental rights, ensure fairness in women's sports and protect minor children questioning their gender identity from potentially dangerous and irreversible medical treatments.
As required by California law, proponents submitted the measure to Bonta to receive a neutral official title and summary to use in petitions. Bonta then returned the measure with a new title with a negative and misleading slant: the “Restricts Rights of Transgender Youth Initiative.” And he gave it a summary that was not only completely prejudicial and designed to mislead the electorate — it also contained lies.
Bonta's opposition to Protect Kids California was not a surprise. Bonta sued the Chino Valley Unified School District over its parental notification policy last August, arguing that California schools are legally required to deceive parents when their children ask to secretly socially transition their gender at school. And Bonta has devoted taxpayer resources to numerous out-of-state lawsuits to advocate for policies that undermine parental rights, change traditional policies concerning sex-separated sports teams and bathrooms and promote minors' access to dangerous, untested and irreversible drugs and surgeries.
Still, Bonta's effort to sabotage the Protect Kids California initiative is a new low. As the chief law enforcement officer of the state, Bonta is required by law to prepare a “true and impartial statement of the purpose” for all proposed ballot initiatives. That's why the Liberty Jus