Daily Journal Interviews Manatt Partner on California Ballot Initiatives Bill
"Ballot Initiatives Bill Could Spur Litigation Against Backers"
Daily Journal
September 25, 2013 - The Daily Journal interviewed Manatt's Randall Keen, a partner in the firm's Government & Regulatory Policy Practice, on a bill before California Gov. Jerry Brown requiring ballot measure backers to use volunteers to gather signatures.
As reported by the Daily Journal, AB 857 would also create a right for anyone to sue by alleging fraud was used to get the signatures. The bill, which is sponsored by two major unions, mandates at least 10 percent of signatures for a ballot initiative be gathered by volunteers.
Sources told the legal newspaper that AB 857 has language that would allow unions and other nonprofits to pay or otherwise compensate members in return for collecting signatures, but Keen thinks it would be difficult for private interests to organize people.
"It would definitely work toward union-backed measures and against people without the [volunteers] to make the requirement," Keen said.