You can see who sponsors NASCAR drivers just by looking at their snazzy suits. So why not have similar dress requirements for politicians?

If that idea sounds familiar to you, it might be because it was made semi-famous following a Robin Williams stand-up skit. In his routine, the late comedian lambasts the flow of money in politics, riffing that members of congress should have to wear jackets tagged with their sponsors’ logos.

John Cox, a business owner in California, thought that was a brilliant idea. Partly inspired by the comedian's joke, he started California Not For Sale, a ballot initiative that would require legislators in the Golden State to display their top 10 donors on clothing whenever casting votes or advocating for policies. Currently, supporters of the initiative are canvassing California in an effort to muster up the approximately 365,000 signatures needed to get the initiative on the November ballot. Since January, they've gotten about 70,000.

If they are able to meet that goal by the April 26 deadline, and voters approve it, California's capitol will be bustling with people looking like this:

Outfits on fleek. Image: California Is Not for Sale

Cox is completely serious about wanting to see the dress code become a reality, undeterred by possible setbacks and previous petitions that have tried and failed.

In 2013, a petition addressed to the White House also wanted to see lawmakers in NASCAR-style getups, but it wound up about 63,000 signatures short of the 100,000 needed in order for the administration to address it. There are also pesky rumblings that forcing legislators to wear the outfits may not be entirely constitutional.

"Politicians do not shed their free speech rights when they take office," said Timothy Zick, a law professor at the College of William and Mary in an interview with U.S. News & World Report. "Absent compelling justification, government cannot compel speakers to convey particular viewpoints or subject matters against their will.”

Still, supporters of the initiative are hoping to borrow some of the momentum from the 2016 presidential election, in which non-establishment candidates such as Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have helped campaign finance become an issue at the forefront of debates, and one that has been able to whip up ample support for reform.

But harnessing that momentum and getting the word out has proved costly.

Cox says he has personally invested $1 million to get the California initiative off the ground, but qualifying for the November ballot is still an uphill battle. Because so many of the signatures on ballot initiatives are thrown out or turn out to be ineligible, a goal of more than 500,000 signatures is ideal, he says. That's proved difficult, even with paid circulators and volunteers.

"I've got a paid firm, but I've got a limited amount of money. I'm not Donald Trump," Cox said Friday, at a signature collecting event in San Francisco. "I'm not a billionaire. I'm a small businessman. I'm doing this because I'm disgusted with system. I'm using $1 million of my children's inheritance to try and get this going."

The initiative also has some endorsements of its own, including Change.org, CounterPAC, Mayday.Us and other groups that purportedly focus on lifting money out of politics. Cox acknowledged that this initiative is only one step towards serving that larger goal, and not a solution to the larger systemic issues within campaign finance.

"By itself, having them wear these stickers isn't going to change that much. What this is being done for is to highlight and ridicule a really stupid, corrupt system," he said. "And if you look at it, it really does look kind of ridiculous."

Ridiculous, maybe. But it's far from the punchline it once was.