But Connecticut citizens may feel strongly enough about an issue to take matters into their own hands. I believe that Connecticut citizens ought to be able to take direct action when a significant percentage of them believe that direct action is warranted, regardless of what legislative leaders may think of the issue.

That is why Senator Dan Debicella of Shelton and I recently introduced a resolution on the Senate floor to amend our state Constitution to permit initiative and referendum. Our resolution was defeated, but we are committed to continuing to fight for this measure. Under our proposal, Connecticut residents would have the right to decide by ballot whether to amend our state Constitution to permit citizens to bring certain types of issues, under certain conditions, directly to the voters.

The need to empower the people of Connecticut directly became crystal clear to me last year when more than 40,000 people signed an online petition demanding that the General Assembly convene a special session to pass a three strikes law in the aftermath of the horrendous Cheshire home invasion and murders.

These citizens – and I – discovered that it really does not matter what the people want if a few, powerful, legislators disagree. It took months of hard work on the part of many legislators and determined state citizens to convince legislative leadership to convene a special criminal justice session. The General Assembly accomplished a great deal of good during that special session and, more recently, during the regular legislative session. But, as I write this, the many admittedly excellent criminal justice reforms we passed this year does not include a true three strikes law. It is not right for a small handful of legislative leaders to decide whether a bill ever sees the light of day.

If Connecticut voters had the right of initiative and referendum, they could bring that issue directly to the people and let them decide, by ballot, whether or not Connecticut is to have a three strikes law that mandates life imprisonment of those convicted of three serious, violent, felonies.

Our proposed initiative and referendum measure would not be used frivolously. In order for a proposal to be placed on a ballot, at least five percent of those registered to vote in the preceding general election must first sign a petition. Right now, that is about 90,000 people. In order to pass and become law, at least 60 percent of the eligible voters would have to cast ballots and, of those, a majority would have to vote in favor of the measure.

There are additional safeguards built in to our initiative and referendum proposal. Initiative and referendum could not be used to put certain types of measures on a ballot, including proposals to: name an individual to public office; name a private corporation to perform any function or have any power; create or abolish courts, or change their rules or decisions; propose special legislation affecting municipalities; increase spending without also increasing revenues to pay for that additional spending; change laws necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace; change health or safety standards; or change laws requiring elections. These restrictions are based on the experiences of other states that permit initiative and/or referendum.

Furthermore, the General Assembly could not amend any initiative or referendum passed by the public for three years after its implementation. Similarly, state citizens would have to wait three years before re-introducing a previously considered subject of initiative and referendum.

As always, I welcome opportunities to hear your thoughts and concerns about the issues important to our state. I can be contacted at my legislative office in Hartford at 860-240-8800, or via e-mail at Sam.Caligiuri@cga.ct.gov.