The Impact of Direct Democracy on Society - Universität St.Gallen

– 62 –CantonNeuenburg(16 Oct 2001)newconstitution by1 Jan 2002Neuenburg(old)Genf(21 Oct 2003)Jura(4 July 2000)Table 6: <strong>The</strong> Fiscal Referendum – Mandatory (Ordinary) (cont.)Financialthreshold> 1.5 %(> 1.5 per mill)<strong>of</strong> total cantonalrevenues> 5%(> 5 per mill)<strong>of</strong> the revenues<strong>of</strong> the last budgetArticle in cant.const.effective since1 Jan 2002(24 Sept 2000)art. 39, 3 1992(8 Dec 1991)art. 77, lit. dart. 77, lit. e1 Jan 1979(20 Mar 1977)RemarksNon-existingLaws and decreesSee also T/S 1999,p. 273Non-existingSee also T/S 1999,p. 223laws and decrees, allexpenses notdetermined by a lawsee also T/S 1999,p. 253See table 2. In the column 'Financial threshold', the threshold for recurring expenses is displayed in brackets, whilethe expenditure threshold for nonrecurring expenses is displayed above. All numbers are in Swiss Francs.* Grossratsbeschluss (decree <strong>of</strong> the Grosser Rat <strong>of</strong> St. Gallen) <strong>of</strong> the 17th <strong>of</strong> November, 1923.5.2 Comments on the Changes in the Mandatory Fiscal ReferendumSince 1997, only a few developments regarding the mandatory fiscal referendum (<strong>of</strong> theordinary type) could be observed. In most <strong>of</strong> the cantons, either the mandatory fiscalreferendum was abolished and replaced by an optional fiscal referendum or the threshold wasincreased substantially. Certainly, such a development might cause a decline in the subindexfor the fiscal referendum.<strong>The</strong> most prominent change is probably that which occurred in Zürich. After years <strong>of</strong> theexistence <strong>of</strong> a mandatory fiscal referendum (from at least 1970 on; see T/S 1999, p. 406), theelectorate <strong>of</strong> Zürich decided to abolish it and keep only the optional fiscal referendum. Thisnew constitutional amendment became effective on the 1st <strong>of</strong> January, 1999. An elimination<strong>of</strong> the mandatory fiscal referendum and its replacement by the optional fiscal referendum alsooccurred in Obwalden (effective: the 29th <strong>of</strong> November, 1998) after the threshold for themandatory fiscal referendum for laws and decrees had already been increased substantially onthe 8th <strong>of</strong> June, 1997, from 300,000 to 1 million Swiss Francs. A similar development could