Mandatory Defense Of Initiatives. Public Funding For Attorney Fees.

MANDATORY DEFENSE OF INITIATIVES. PUBLIC FUNDING FOR ATTORNEY FEES. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Amends Constitution to: Require Governor to direct Attorney General to defend, through the highest appellate court, any lawsuit challenging an initiative approved by the voters; require initiative proponent be a party to any legal challenge; require state to pay attorney\u27s fees and legal costs incurred by proponent as a party to any challenge; require party that loses a legal challenge to an approved initiative to pay reasonable legal costs and attorney\u27s fees; defines proponent, and gives proponent of initiatives the right to sue government to enforce the initiative. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: This measure would result in potential unknown state costs. The magnitude of these costs are probably not significant in the context of overall state expenditures