A Maryland congressman wants to hand American voters a power they have never had at the federal level: the ability to write or erase a federal law themselves, without waiting on Congress. Rep. Johnny Olszewski, who represents Maryland's 2nd District, is proposing a constitutional amendment that would create a national referendum system allowing citizens to bypass Congress entirely.
Under Olszewski's proposal, citizens could propose a new federal law or repeal an existing federal statute, according to a press release from his office. To get a measure in front of voters, petitioners would need to gather signatures equal to at least 5% of the voters who participated in the most recent presidential election, collected across at least 25 states, the release states. As WBAL News Radio reports, the system would allow a qualifying referendum to go before voters nationally at the next federal election, sidestepping the legislative process altogether.
Olszewski argues the current system leaves popular ideas stuck in limbo indefinitely. “There's so many places where we can and should be moving, and yet nothing happens,” he said, per the station's report. He pointed specifically to proposals banning members of Congress and the president from trading stocks, a measure that has lingered in Congress for years without passage. “It shouldn't take two or 20 years to ban stock trading by the president and members of congress,” Olszewski said.
What the Referendum Could Target
Beyond a stock-trading ban, the proposal could address requiring insurance coverage for fertility treatments and mandating body-worn cameras, according to the same account. Those examples illustrate the kinds of stalled policy debates Olszewski says a direct public vote could resolve faster than the current congressional process.
The idea borrows heavily from a mechanism that already exists in dozens of states. The proposed national referendum system resembles referendum processes offered in roughly 25 states, the station notes. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, initiative and referendum processes let citizens bypass their state legislature by placing proposed statutes, and in some states constitutional amendments, directly on the ballot. Ballotpedia counts 26 states with an initiative process, a referendum process, or both at the statewide level.
No Federal Equivalent Currently Exists
Nothing like that exists at the national level today. Ballotpedia states plainly that there is no federal initiative and referendum process in the United States. The University of Miami Law Review similarly notes that the U.S. Constitution does not afford any national or federal referendum process, though some states do allow referendums on newly passed state laws when enough residents petition for one.
Because Olszewski's plan would create something the Constitution does not currently permit, it would require a formal constitutional amendment, a notoriously difficult bar to clear. The Miami Law Review points to Senator Ted Cruz's January 2019 proposal for a constitutional amendment imposing congressional term limits as an example of how such efforts can stall; that measure has not become law. Separately, the Constitution Annotated, maintained by Congress.gov, notes that the Supreme Court has held state legislatures perform a federal constitutional function when ratifying proposed amendments, and that state voters cannot limit a legislature's performance of that duty, underscoring how entrenched the existing amendment process is.
A Congress.gov listing tied to the proposal shows one version of the referenced bill on file, though further detail on its formal status was not available. For now, Olszewski's pitch remains a proposal rather than settled law, one that would need to clear the same high constitutional bar it is designed to route around for everyday legislation.
