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Still yes; DC has a 14 member city council that meets frequently with a long legislative session, and a mayor. Even the smallest states have a few hundred legi

Still yes; DC has a 14 member city council that meets frequently with a long legislative session, and a mayor. Even the smallest states have a few hundred legislators in 2 houses, and much shorter legislative calendars to get things done in.

eli 12y ago
These are ballot initiatives that didn't go through the legislature. And for what it's worth, DC doesn't make it especially easy to get something on the ballot.
- showerst 12y ago
  The initial steps (decriminalization, medical marijuana) were taken in the council though, and those set the stage. Your question re:ballot initiatives interested me so I looked it up; signature-wise it takes 5% of DC voters distributed through 5/8 wards to get something on the ballot [0]. That's around 23,000 verified signatures. There are also the normal review periods/court challenges that are common in (nearly?) every state. In Wyoming it's 15% of registered voters, nearly double DC, plus a fiscal review in addition to the normal court challenges.[1] I can't find anything saying direct initiatives are legal at all in Vermont, except constitutional amendments which come through the legislature [2]. In alaska (bigger but apropos since they legalized too) it takes about 30,000 signatures, and they have much stricter signature rules, including a house-district distribution rule. [3] Overall it seems that DC is one of the easiest small 'states' to get something on the ballot in, although I have no way to compare how tough the court challenges are between states. Looking at the number of initiatives would be instructive but this comment is already getting long. [0] https://www.dcboee.org/regulations/initiative_and_referendum/guide.asp https://www.dcboee.org/regulations/initiative_and_referendum... [1] http://ballotpedia.org/Laws_governing_the_initiative_process_in_Wyoming#Collecting_signatures http://ballotpedia.org/Laws_governing_the_initiative_process... [2] http://ballotpedia.org/List_of_Vermont_ballot_measures http://ballotpedia.org/List_of_Vermont_ballot_measures [3] http://ballotpedia.org/Laws_governing_the_initiative_process_in_Alaska http://ballotpedia.org/Laws_governing_the_initiative_process...

eli 12y ago

These are ballot initiatives that didn't go through the legislature. And for what it's worth, DC doesn't make it especially easy to get something on the ballot.

showerst 12y ago
The initial steps (decriminalization, medical marijuana) were taken in the council though, and those set the stage. Your question re:ballot initiatives interested me so I looked it up; signature-wise it takes 5% of DC voters distributed through 5/8 wards to get something on the ballot [0]. That's around 23,000 verified signatures. There are also the normal review periods/court challenges that are common in (nearly?) every state. In Wyoming it's 15% of registered voters, nearly double DC, plus a fiscal review in addition to the normal court challenges.[1] I can't find anything saying direct initiatives are legal at all in Vermont, except constitutional amendments which come through the legislature [2]. In alaska (bigger but apropos since they legalized too) it takes about 30,000 signatures, and they have much stricter signature rules, including a house-district distribution rule. [3] Overall it seems that DC is one of the easiest small 'states' to get something on the ballot in, although I have no way to compare how tough the court challenges are between states. Looking at the number of initiatives would be instructive but this comment is already getting long. [0] https://www.dcboee.org/regulations/initiative_and_referendum/guide.asp https://www.dcboee.org/regulations/initiative_and_referendum... [1] http://ballotpedia.org/Laws_governing_the_initiative_process_in_Wyoming#Collecting_signatures http://ballotpedia.org/Laws_governing_the_initiative_process... [2] http://ballotpedia.org/List_of_Vermont_ballot_measures http://ballotpedia.org/List_of_Vermont_ballot_measures [3] http://ballotpedia.org/Laws_governing_the_initiative_process_in_Alaska http://ballotpedia.org/Laws_governing_the_initiative_process...