I think I have (too much?) faith in the Californian electorate -- but you're right, in historical terms certainly, it's typically the "activist judges" that spur the most profound social change, and even when they don't, their presence is inevitably called upon in legal challenges where the electorate initiated the change. The legislative changes have been in states with profoundly different demographics than California, and given its profound size, diversity, and cultural status, it's going to be a much more compelling battleground for the special interests of every side of the issue to converge (again), more so than the New England states.