Cal. Apartment Assn. v. City of Pasadena (2025)

Citation: Cal. Apartment Assn. v. City of Pasadena (2025)
Parent Document: Cal. Apartment Assn. v. City of Pasadena (2025)
Jurisdiction: California (state)
Effective Date: 2025-12-18
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10761039/cal-apartment-assn-v-city-of-pasadena/ ↗

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as a general matter, any approved amendment or revision taking
effect five days after the results are certified. (Id., § 4, italics
added.) Article II, which addresses voting and the initiative,
referendum, and recall powers, defines “initiative” as “the power
of the electors to propose statutes and amendments to the
Constitution and to adopt or reject them.” (Id., art. II, § 8, subd.
(a), italics added.)
        Thus, the Constitution may be amended but not revised by
initiative. (See Strauss, supra, 46 Cal.4th at p. 386 [“although
the initiative process may be used to propose and adopt
amendments to the California Constitution, under its governing
provisions that process may not be used to revise the state
Constitution”]; accord, Weber, supra, 16 Cal.5th at pp. 254-255;
Legislature v. Eu (1991) 54 Cal.3d 492, 506 (Eu); Raven v.
Deukmejian (1990) 52 Cal.3d 336, 349-350 (Raven); Amador
Valley Joint Union High Sch. Dist. v. State Bd. of Equalization
(1978) 22 Cal.3d 208, 221; McFadden v. Jordan (1948) 32 Cal.2d
330, 332-334 (McFadden).) The higher bar for constitutional
revisions as opposed to amendments “is based on the principle
that ‘comprehensive changes’ to the Constitution require more
formality, discussion and deliberation than is available through
the initiative process.” (Eu, at p. 506.)
        Just as the Constitution does not define the terms
“amendment” or “revision” under article XI with respect to local
government charters, it does not define them in article XVIII or
article II as they apply to proposed changes to the provisions of
the Constitution. But we conclude the terms have the same
meaning in both contexts. The provisions under article XI,
section 3 regarding changes to local government charters were
adopted in 1970 amidst “a general constitutional revision and

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