The word you're looking for is "proposition," and it's not a common way to enact actual laws. California and a handful of other states have created propositions as a way to FORCE their governments to give the people a say in how they're governed as, in my opinion, those state governments do not listen to their citizens. The politicians hate propositions and often do everything in their power to get around them once passed. All other states do vote on things such as local tax increases, the issuance of bonds and a few other local issues, but creating state law is usually up to elected represent