BILL NUMBER:  AB 857
  VETOED	DATE: 10/12/2013




To the Members of the California State Assembly:

I am returning Assembly Bill 857 without my signature.

The initiative process is far from perfect and monied interests have
historically manipulated it at will.  Nevertheless, fixing the system
is not easy.

Requiring a specific threshold of signatures to be gathered by
volunteers will not stop abuses by narrow special interests ?
particularly if "volunteer" is defined with the broad exemptions as
in this bill.

Efforts to make the system fairer and more reflective of sound
government should be considered.  But this measure falls short of
returning to the citizen-driven system originally envisioned in 1911.


Sincerely,



Edmund G. Brown Jr.