The California referendum process gives voters 90 days to challenge a law the Legislature has just passed by gathering hundreds of thousands of signatures and forcing the statute onto a statewide ballot. If enough valid signatures come in on time, the law is suspended until voters decide whether to keep it or throw it out.
Referendum vs. Initiative, and Which Laws Are Off Limits
A referendum targets a law already passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor. An initiative, by contrast, lets citizens propose new law from scratch. A referendum is essentially a voter veto of legislation before it can take full effect.
Not every statute is fair game. The California Constitution exempts urgency statutes, laws calling for elections, and statutes providing tax levies or appropriations for the state’s usual operating expenses from the referendum process.1Justia. California Constitution Article II Section 9 If the law you want to challenge falls into one of those categories, no petition will reach the ballot.
The 90-Day Deadline
Once the Secretary of State chapters the signed bill, proponents have 90 days to do everything: request the official title and summary from the Attorney General, print petitions, gather every required signature, and file completed petitions with county elections officials.2California Secretary of State. How the California Referendum Process Works The 90-day window is set by the Constitution, so no agency can extend it.1Justia. California Constitution Article II Section 9
One late-session wrinkle matters. If the Legislature passes a bill before adjourning for a joint recess that spans into the next calendar year, and the Governor still has the bill after that adjournment, the petition cannot be presented on or after January 1 following the enactment date unless a copy was already submitted to the Attorney General before that date.1Justia. California Constitution Article II Section 9 Proponents of end-of-session referendums have to move immediately after the Governor signs.
Step 1: Get a Title and Summary From the Attorney General
The first move is submitting the text of the targeted statute to the Attorney General with a written request for an official circulating title and summary.2California Secretary of State. How the California Referendum Process Works The Attorney General drafts a brief description of the law’s chief purpose and key provisions. That language appears at the top of every petition section and is what potential signers read.
No signatures can be legally collected until the Attorney General issues this title and summary. Because every day of waiting eats into the 90-day window, serious campaigns line up printers, circulators, and collection sites in advance so they can start collecting the moment the language drops.
Step 2: Collect the Required Signatures
A referendum petition must be signed by registered voters equal in number to at least five percent of the total votes cast for all candidates for Governor at the most recent gubernatorial election.1Justia. California Constitution Article II Section 9 Based on the 2022 gubernatorial election, that threshold is 546,651 valid signatures.2California Secretary of State. How the California Referendum Process Works Campaigns almost always collect a substantial cushion above the minimum, because a share of every batch will be thrown out during verification.
Circulators must be at least 18 years old. They do not need to be registered voters themselves, and California permits paying circulators per signature. Petition sections are organized by county, and only registered voters of a given county may sign that county’s section.
Every circulator must attach a signed declaration to each petition section, certifying under penalty of perjury that they personally witnessed each signature and believe each is genuine.3California Legislative Information. California Elections Code 9022 It is a misdemeanor to knowingly allow signatures gathered for a petition to be used for any other purpose.4California Legislative Information. California Elections Code 18650
Step 3: Signature Verification by the Counties
Completed petition sections are filed with the county elections official in each county where signatures were gathered. County officials perform a raw count and report the total to the Secretary of State within eight business days.2California Secretary of State. How the California Referendum Process Works If the statewide raw count comes in below 100 percent of the required number, the referendum fails right there.
If the raw count clears the minimum, the Secretary of State orders a random-sample verification. Each county checks at least 500 signatures or three percent of the signatures filed in that county, whichever is greater.2California Secretary of State. How the California Referendum Process Works What happens next depends on the projected valid-signature rate:
- Below 95 percent of the required number, the measure fails.
- Above 110 percent, the referendum is certified as qualified with no further verification.
- Between 95 and 110 percent, the Secretary of State orders a full signature-by-signature examination, and counties have 30 business days to complete it.5California Legislative Information. California Elections Code 9031
That middle zone is the danger zone. Invalidity rates of a few percentage points, common with fast paid-circulator drives, can sink a petition that looked healthy on raw numbers.
What Qualification Does to the Law
Qualification is not just a ticket to the ballot. Once the Secretary of State certifies that valid signatures meet or exceed the threshold, the challenged statute stops being enforceable.6California Legislative Information. California Elections Code 9033(d) The law is suspended until voters weigh in.
The suspension lifts only if the Secretary of State or a court determines the petition lacked enough valid signatures, the proponents withdraw the measure, or voters choose to keep the law at the election.6California Legislative Information. California Elections Code 9033(d) When a petition challenges only part of a statute, the unchallenged sections continue in effect.
The qualified referendum is placed on the ballot at the next statewide general election held at least 31 days after it qualifies. The Governor may also call a special statewide election for the measure.1Justia. California Constitution Article II Section 9
How Voters Decide: Keep or Overturn
California rewrote its referendum ballot language to end the Yes/No confusion that dogged earlier measures. Voters now see two options: “Keep the law” or “Overturn the law.”7California Legislative Information. California Elections Code 13120(b) Marking “Keep the law” is a vote in favor of the statute the Legislature passed. Marking “Overturn the law” is a vote to repeal it.
If a majority votes to overturn, the repeal takes effect on the fifth day after the Secretary of State files the official statement of the vote.8Justia. California Constitution Article II Section 10 The Legislature would have to pass a new bill to enact anything similar. If a majority votes to keep the law, the suspension lifts and the statute takes effect.
Why Most Referendum Efforts Do Not Make the Ballot
The 90-day window is short by design. Gathering over half a million valid signatures while the Attorney General drafts language, printers run petitions, and circulators fan out across 58 counties requires real money and existing organizational muscle. Successful California referendums tend to be run by well-funded interest groups that can deploy paid circulators statewide within days of receiving the official petition text. Grassroots efforts with limited resources rarely clear the signature threshold in time, which is a big part of why referendum measures appear on California ballots far less often than citizen initiatives.