How do I go about changing a state's constitution?

Factual Questions
1

Hello all, long time reader, first time poster etc….

I am wondering how I would go about getting a constitutional amendment on a state’s ballot for a future election. The state is California.

I assume that I would need to author the amendment within legal boundaries of the state/Fed government, and collect enough signatures to actually have it placed on the ballot. For some reason though, I think that there is more involved. Just call me a pessimist.

For those curious, the amendment would outlaw “riders” on bills. Yes, I know all about a snowball’s chance in hell.

Thanks
MrTuffPaws

2

Well, here’s a site that might help:

especially here:

http://www.cainitiative.org/library/legal-restrict.html

Generally, though (from the report at the above link:

3

How ironic. That is just what I want limited at the legislative level.

Thanks for the reply

MrTuffPaws

4

Arrggg

I mean "How ironic. That is just what I want at the
legislative level."

5

Could someone tell me what are these “riders” things?

6

Riders are bills that usually would not pass on their own merits, so to get them into law, our senators / representatives attach them to the end of a law that will pass on its own.

For example, the Homeland security bill had several riders attached to it. One of which strikes down lawsuits against drug companies that produce vaccines that people die from and get sued over the deaths.

I think the original bill was about 65 pages, but after rider attachment, it bloomed to over 400 pages.

7

The California Secretary of State can help.

8

MrTuffPaws best of luck on your most quixotic of quests.

You can also go to the State Library and look through old initiatives (ones that both made the ballot and didn’t make the ballot) to see if anyone else tried the same thing.

I would not be surprised if someone else hadn’t tried this before.

9

Thanks, I understand what you mean.

However, I’m not sure how they could be outlawed. You would have to find a way to tell apart the"riders" and the elements genuinely related to the bill. It could be obvious in some cases that the “rider” has nothing to do with the bill, but how would the line be drawn? And who would get to decide whether the article 55 is a actually an essential part of the bill or an unrelated “rider”?