California
A Los Angeles City Council committee cleared a proposed ballot measure that would mandate the city to keep a certain amount of money in its emergency reserve fund. Over the last decade, the city has had a policy of maintaining an emergency reserve fund that is at least 2.75 percent of its general fund receipts. The council’s Budget and Finance Committee voted today to ask voters in November to put policy on the City Charter. The initiative now goes to the full council for consideration.
Stanislaus County’s nine mayors will be in Riverbank tonight to kick off their campaign to support Proposition 22, a statewide initiative that would prevent the state from taking money allocated for local agencies, public safety and transportation. Riverbank Mayor Virginia Madueño is holding the fund-raiser at her home.
By taxing Californians $18 more for an annual vehicle license surcharge fee, $500 million would be generated for the preservation of state parks and wildlife programs. But in the given economic crisis, is this where tax dollars should be allocated? Proposition 21, the Vehicle License Fee for Parks on the Nov. 2 ballot, is an attempt to fund the more than $1 billion of repairs needed in the 258 state parks in California. Additionally, the initiative aims to preserve state park employment and assure the historical and recreational opportunities of state parks.
Legalizing marijuana is becoming a more popular idea, according to the latest polling on the ballot measure voters will decide in November. According to an AP story in The Oakland Tribune, Prop. 19 is gaining ground and has a chance of passing. The measure would legalize and regulate recreational marijuana.
An affordable housing developer plans an “austere” campaign to convince city voters to approve a zone change on a Savi Ranch parcel allowing up to 30 units per acre in Yorba Linda’s first-ever Measure B vote on the Nov. 2 ballot. Measure B, which requires a vote on density levels above 10 units per acre and heights above 35 feet, was approved by 299 votes in 2006, after builders and real estate groups raised $174,150 to defeat the initiative in the city’s single costliest campaign to date.
Republican gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman said Monday that she would place pension cutbacks on the ballot if negotiations with state workers fail and would consider using her personal fortune not only to win office but to advance her agenda if elected. Taking the issue to voters is “not my first choice,” she told The Bee’s editorial board. “But if we have to … this is an issue we have got to take up.” The former eBay CEO and billionaire said she “possibly” would put her own money behind a ballot measure campaign.
Marymount College was dealt a double defeat in court Wednesday, when a judge ruled against the school on two challenges related to a ballot initiative that would allow the Rancho Palos Verdes campus to expand and add dormitories. In separate hearings on the language of ballot arguments for and against Measure P, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David P. Yaffe sided with critics of the Marymount-backed initiative that will go before voters Nov. 2.
City Attorney James F. Penman and resident Renee Affaitati requested - and received - a new judge to hear their lawsuit challenging sample ballot language in support of Measure C after the original jurist expressed his reticence to get involved in a political case. Measure C is a ballot measure that would give the City Council and mayor authority to appoint the city attorney, city clerk and city treasurer.
Apparently a new record was set for spending on an initiative in Washington State recently. The American Beverage Association has plopped down over $14 million to try and overturn a soda tax passed by the State Legislature.
A San Francisco Superior Court judge Monday agreed to let a city pension and health care reform measure promoted by Public Defender Jeff Adachi onto the city’s November ballot. Proposition B seeks to raise city worker contributions to their pension plans to between 9 and 10 percent and to have employees pay half of their dependants’ health care costs.
Citizens in Charge President Paul Jacob sat down with Eric O’Keefe from Sam Adams Alliance while out in San Francisco earlier this month to talk about the initiative & referendum process and citizen rights.
Sam Adams Alliance posted the podcast of it last night on their website. It’s a good interview and you should definitely check it out here.
A measure that would increase taxes on cigarettes to help fund cancer research was certified Tuesday for the February 2012 ballot. The initiative, if approved, would increase cigarette taxes by $1 a pack. When former state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata and other backers announced their plans for the initiative late last year, they said they hoped to get enough signatures to put it before voters this fall.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has demanded that lawmakers put a measure on the ballot to strengthen the state’s “rainy-day fund” as part of any budget agreement he signs this year. The question is, when? Lawmakers are able to place measures on the Nov. 2 ballot even though they missed election deadlines two months ago. Still, state leaders are approaching logistical deadlines that would make it difficult for counties to add another measure to the ballot, election officials say.
For those of you who were not able to attend the conference, we’ve uploaded the speaker bios from the official conference program.
Feel free to take a look and see who spoke to the hundreds in attendance over the 6 day gathering.
You can check out the bios here.
America’s ideological warriors, ranging from Ralph Nader on the left to Grover Norquist on the right, will take part, beginning Friday, in a five-day conference in San Francisco on global trends in direct democracy.