A bill backed by labor unions and environmental groups would make it harder for industries to subject recently passed legislation to voter approval.
The bill, AB 421 by Assemblyman Isaac Bryan, D-Culver City, would make it more difficult to qualify referendums or similar ballot measures that overturn parts of recently passed legislation by requiring some signature gatherers be unpaid volunteers and requiring that information about who is paying for the petitions be disclosed.
“In recent years, we’ve seen some of tools of our democracy subverted from their original intent,” Bryan, who chairs the Assembly Elections Committee, said at a news conference Monday announcing his bill. “Direct democracy is supposed to be