The News Tribune
Lawmakers this year have been supporting proposed changes to the way initiative petitions are proposed and circulated in the state.
“I found, when I got involved with this,” said Sen. Jay Wasson, R-Nixa and chairman of the Financial & Governmental Organizations and Elections Committee that helped write the bill, “there are people who would like to make (the petition process) a lot easier.
“There are people who would like to make it a lot harder.”
Missouri’s Constitution allows people “to propose and enact or reject laws and amendments to the constitution by the initiative.”
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A proposed initiative that seeks to minimize enforcement of marijuana-related offenses in Tacoma has qualified for the city’s November ballot. Tacoma Initiative No. 1 today surpassed the required goal of 3,858 valid signatures from registered city voters, the Pierce County Auditor’s office confirmed. “The petition was determined to be sufficient with a total of 3,934 valid signatures verified,” Pierce County Elections Manager Michael Rooney wrote in an official letter of verification to City Clerk Doris Sorum.
When members of the Puyallup City Council revisited the issue of term limits last week, it seemed likely they would vote to approve or reject an advisory ballot measure for the public this November. Instead, conversation at the council’s June 8 meeting shifted to the possibility of enacting public initiatives and referendums, a way of taking the highly controversial subject of term limits out of the council’s hands.
It appears all Puyallup residents will have a chance to publicly voice their opinions on term limits for city council members. The council voted unanimously at its May 25 meeting to have city staff draft a proposal that would appear on the Nov. 2 general election ballot. Under Councilmember Don Malloy’s plan, the results of the “advisory ballot” wouldn’t bind the council to a decision but would give officials a clearer sense of how the public feels about the issue.
Costco Wholesale stores in Washington will begin collecting signatures next week to put an initiative on the ballot in November that would take the state out of the liquor business. Initiative 1100 would allow businesses in good standing that currently sell beer and wine to also sell liquor, and it would eliminate price controls and allow volume discounts.
Backers of a state income tax say they’ll be on the street soon pitching Initiative 1098 to voters. A Thurston County judge approved final wording on the ballot title for I-1098, the high-earners income tax proposal backed by Bill Gates Sr., the Service Employees International Union and other groups. Thanks to Superior Court Judge Richard D. Hicks’ ruling, backers can print petitions and circulate them with voters in a sprint to collect 241,153 valid voter signatures by July 2 to qualify for the November ballot.
With a tough-on-crime mission and sympathetic supporters – the families of fallen police officers – it could have the ingredients to score with voters. Still, backers of a ballot measure to limit the constitutional right to bail are taking no chances, planning for a traditional campaign of fundraising and endorsements, speeches and signs.
Missouri House members gave first-round approval Tuesday to a proposed constitutional amendment designed to make it harder for citizen efforts to change the state’s wildlife and forestry policies. The measure would require a four-sevenths majority to pass ballot initiatives changing the state constitution or laws dealing with hunting, fishing or forestry. Currently, ballot measures only require a majority to pass.
The Sumner School Board passed a resolution that authorizes a ballot measure for the Feb. 9 special election. The measure asks voters to approve a replacement levy for 2011 through 2014. “Our current existing levy expires at the end of 2010,” said Ann Cook, communications director for Sumner School District. “This replaces that levy. It’s not a new tax.”
The Tacoma Public Library and the League of Women Voters of Tacoma-Pierce County will sponsor a public forum on several ballot measures tonight. News Tribune columnist Peter Callaghan will moderate a discussion of the following issues: Initiative 1033, which would cap the growth of state and local government general fund revenue, based on an annual rate of inflation and population growth.
Growth, crime and punishment have caught up with Pasco and Franklin County, say officials who want voters to approve a 0.3 percent sales tax increase on the Nov. 3 ballot. Proposition 1 would bring in about $3 million a year, most of which would go to pay off 30-year bonds to construct a new police station and more than double the size of the county jail. The measure needs a simple majority of 50 percent plus one vote to pass.
Professional initiative promoter Tim Eyman’s latest effort, Initiative 1033, has qualified for the Nov. 3 ballot. It would impose general-fund revenue limits on the state, cities and counties and would shift any excess funds above the limit into property-tax relief. Governments could exceed the limit with voter approval; the limit also would increase each year to reflect inflation and population growth.
Just 11 years ago, Washington state lawmakers barred same-sex marriage with the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act. This week, that law is on the edge of becoming irrelevant.
Today, Gov. Chris Gregoire is set to sign an “everything but marriage” bill that gives gay and lesbian couples all the state-provided benefits that married heterosexual couples have. A referendum effort to overturn the law has already ramped up.