California is among the states that allow direct citizen legislation via the initiative. Sometimes good ideas that would otherwise run into political roadbloacks are passed into law, but frequently this is the route taken by fist-pounding demagogues to get laws enacted that the politicians — bad as many of them are — wouldn’t vote for.
Good case in point: Rob Reiner is pushing an initiative for “universal preschool.” It’s remarkably meddlesome and probably has a good chance of passing since it includes goodies for the unions.
You can read all about it here.