State constitution should allow citizen-initiated referendums
Marijuana holds lessons and opportunities for Connecticut lawmakers and voters. The push to legalize cannabis for personal use will return to the legislature’s center stage in 2021.
Incoming Speaker of the House Matthew Ritter, D-Hartford, announced in late November that the House will vote on a marijuana bill and perhaps more. The legislature has defeated attempts to legalize marijuana beyond its use for medical purposes. Ritter raised the prospect of putting an amendment to the state constitution legalizing marijuana before voters.
Amending the constitution is, as it should be, a lengthy process. It requires a super majority of support from legislators. Lawmakers who do not want to vote to legalize marijuana may be willing to put an amendment before voters to let them decide.
There’s a better way. Amendments to the constitution ought to be reserved for matters of great significance. Instead of an amendment on marijuana, put one before voters that provides a process for citizens to initiate referendum questions for state voters to decide at general elections every two years.
Massachusetts has an initiative and referendum process that requires serious effort to get an issue on the ballot. It also provides safeguards to exclude unconstitutional measures from reaching voters. In summary, Massachusetts system sends the proposal, once 80,000 signatures are collected, to the legislature
for it to act. If it does not, supporters of the proposal collect 13,000 more signatures and the issue goes before voters at the next election.
Ballot questions related to marijuana have been put before voters in states across the country and most have passed.
This year, Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota voters approved marijuana ballot questions. Those four states run a wide gamut of our nation’s divided politics. I am not a student of ballot measures across the nation, but it strikes me that the Massachusetts process has not diminished life in the Bay State by trusting voters to make direct decisions on issues.
Connecticut Republicans saw their ranks in the legislature reduced again this year. They will have a difficult time influencing events. Democrats will make decisions among themselves.
A constitutional amendment is different. If ¾ of the members of both chambers of the new legislature vote for an amendment it would appear on the ballot in 2022.
This ought to appeal to Republicans as something to support, breaking the monotony of opposition.
If Republicans are to revive their fortunes in Connecticut, they will need ideas. A two-year chorus of noes will enchant few voters. The could start with public higher education. State Democrats treat our public colleges and universities as expensive patronage pools for party loyalists to build their pensions.
In October, the University of Connecticut announced it will suspend Connecticut Commitment, a program to provide aid to students whose families make less than $50,000 a year. The average grant, according to The Courant, is $2,600 a year.
The program was unveiled last year and will cost $700,000 this year for 260 students. No other students will be admitted to the program. UConn was able to find $711,000 to pay for former president Susan Herbst’s 2019-2020 sabbatical. Herbst’s lucrative deal pays her $319,000 a year to teach no “more than two (2) full-time classes per academic year.” Herbst is teaching political science at UConn’s Stamford campus.
Herbst’s dizzying compensation package was approved by the school’s board of trustees. The board’s priorities do not reflect those of the people of Connecticut. Here’s one way to address that wide gulf. Limit the terms of trustees to five years. There are plenty of talented people who can serve but do not possess the political juice that others use to get and stay on the board year after year. The interests of the students become subordinated to the chumminess of the board members and the top-heavy administration—leading to exit deals like the one Herbst enjoys and the end of a program to help needy aspiring students.
Here’s one more idea for Republicans and anyone else. Let’s have a fee-free application day for colleges and universities. Colorado has done it for three years to encourage students who live in the state to complete their applications and boost enrollment. Private colleges also participate. If we can pay Herbst $319,000 a year to teach two courses, we ought to be able to give students a small incentive to attend.