Revisiting City of Morgan Hill: Fixing California’s Direct Democracy Preemption Test

California has a housing crisis. Despite the state government’s best efforts to build more homes, local governments and local voters are finding new ways to circumvent those requirements. One such loophole allows California voters to propose non-compliant housing plans through the ballot initiative process or effectively veto their local governments’ housing allocation decisions through a referendum. Although voters rarely use this loophole, the California Supreme Court should step in and prevent it from growing in popularity. The court can do so by simply making a small change to a legal test that determines when local initiatives and referenda are preempted by state law.