Pennsylvania lacks any laws that allow or create a process for Referendum and Initiative ballots. 27 states and the District of Columbia have some form of law allowing citizen initiated State Statutes or State Constitutional Amendments to appear on election ballots to be voted on by the people.

     If Pennsylvania allows citizen initiated referendums then future generations of Pennsylvanians will be guaranteed the ability to pass legislation (Direct Democracy) without approval from the legislature. All they will need for their statutes or amendments to appear on the ballot is a certain amount of signatures on a petition. 

     The Pennsylvania Initiative and Referendum Amendment failed to be placed on the 2016 ballot since all statutes and amendments must be placed on the ballot by the legislature. The Pennsylvania Initiative and Referendum Amendment would require petitioners to collect a number of signatures equal to at least five percent of the votes cast in the preceding gubernatorial election and in at least 45 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties in order for the statute or amendment to appear on the ballot. 

    It is my hope that with this petition we can show the Governor and Legislature that Pennsylvanians demand the right to initiate their own statutes and amendments. We need every signature we can get on this petition since there is no guarantee, by law, that the legislators must take action regarding this petition no matter how many signatures we obtain.