The July 20 Sacramento Bee has this editorial, asking California Governor Jerry Brown to veto SB 168. That is the bill that makes it illegal for initiative, referendum and recall petition circulators to be paid on a per-signature basis. This is a very significant editorial. The Sacramento Bee almost always endorses Democrats, not Republicans, for public office. The bill passed with unanimous opposition from Republican legislators, but only three Democratic Assemblymembers failed to vote for the bill.

The Bee editorial says what everyone knows, that the motive behind the bill is not to prevent fraud, but to make it more difficult to put initiatives on the ballot.