Local citizens’ legislative initiative as a tool to strengthen the local legislative inclusive procedure – from idea to formal legislation

Abstract

The article is an attempt to characterize and analyze the institution of a civic initiative, by describing its idea, genesis and four legislative paths, the last of which was successful. Pursuant to the 2018 amendment to the local government laws, the right to initiate a legislative procedure may be exercised by residents of all Polish municipalities, poviats and voivodships on an equal basis. The considerations of the article focus on the formal following of the legislative path of the act, which is today the legal basis of the discussed institution, as well as the characteristics of the three previous - ineffective - drafts. The axis of the work is a discussion and dispute in the doctrine and among local government officials, among others, about the legitimacy of introducing this regulation and its final shape. The article uses methods characteristic for research on public policy as well as law and administration studies. The main tool is a comparative analysis of draft legal acts, and the auxiliary is a functional system analysis. During deliberations, the authors want to answer the question about the attitude of individual political circles to the legitimacy of regulating the resolution initiative in common law and to the manner and scope of the regulation itself. The question is also why, despite almost a decade of attempts to standardize individual solutions, it was possible to do it only in 2018?