California
The effort to suspend California’s climate change law took a step forward Monday when a coalition of business groups filed signatures for a ballot initiative. If the initiative qualifies for the November ballot, voters will decide whether to suspend AB 32 until unemployment drops to 5.5 percent for a full year. At that time, AB 32 would be restored.
Talk about murky. The economic impact, the potential social and legal landscape, even the split between the pro and con sides in the squabble over the initiative on the Nov. 2 ballot to legalize marijuana for recreational use in California - they’re all about as clear as smoke from a bong. Most medicinal-marijuana advocates think it would be just fine if good-time tokers joined their legal crowd. Others worry it might ruin the purity of using pot as medicine.
The legacy of Governor Schwarzenegger is still very much a work in progress. On the one hand, he can be counted as the first Governor of California since Ronald Reagan to come from Hollywood and yet still manage to formulate a gubernatorial philosophy – one which his supporters believe is more nuanced and intellectually coherent than the Gipper’s.
The Oakland City Council voted Thursday night to begin the process of placing an $18.2 million public safety parcel tax on the November ballot, though it remains unclear if it will resolve the city’s burgeoning fiscal crisis. The ballot measure to pay police officers’ salaries, which the council would have to approve by July 20, in combination with a separate $2.4 million utility tax, would halve the $42.6 million budget deficit for the upcoming fiscal year. But it would do little to stop the ballooning costs of pensions and health care that threaten to swamp the city budget.
A secretive group is inching closer to gathering enough signatures to qualify an initiative for the November general election that, if approved, would force city officials to put every change to city fees to a popular vote. Backed by the San Luis Obispo Property Owners Association, the User and Regulatory Fees Initiative has about 2,000 signatures in support, according to Association Treasurer Stephen Barasch. The initiative would require a majority vote on any new, expanded, or increased fee proposed by the city, according to the initiative summary.
A group aiming to qualify a “pension reform” initiative for the November ballot is in its last week of signature-gathering. The initiative, backed by the group Citizens for Fair and Responsible Pension Reform, would reduce pension payments for new, non-police Menlo Park employees. It would also prevent Menlo Park’s City Council from increasing pension benefits in the future.
Voters get to make a decision in November on a ballot initiative that would limit the California Legislature from taking money from local agencies. The Local Taxpayer, Public Safety and Transportation Act is a constitutional amendment that would prevent the state from borrowing or redirecting any taxes from local agencies. The initiative would protect money marked for public safety, redevelopment projects, transit funding and transportation improvements.
The June 8 ballot won’t be overwhelming for Needles residents, with two local issues and five propositions from the state. Needles residents will have the chance to decide the fate of Colorado River Medical Center. The two local issues deal with changing the charter, first allowing the city to sell the hospital and the second man-dating the hospital be sold to a nonprofit organization if approved.
Over at Fox & Hounds Daily, Joe Matthews has a great piece on why California’s proposal to raise the filing fee for an initiative from $200 to $2000 is a bad idea. He also offers some suggestions on reforms that would actually make the state’s process better.
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Ever since the near-collapse of California’s finances last year, angry voters have threatened to bolt for the ballot box and do something they’re convinced lawmakers can’t: make drastic changes to a state that’s fundamentally broken. And indeed, Californians will face a crop of propositions in the voting booth this June, all of them promising change. But don’t expect dramatics like a constitutional convention.
An initiative to make St. Helena’s urban limit line subject to voter approval won’t make it onto the ballot this year. But its primary supporter on the city council says he’s pressing on, with or without the council’s support. City Councilmember Eric Sklar said he plans to draft a ballot initiative and collect enough signatures to get it on the ballot, possibly via a special election in 2011.
Public employee unions have dodged a bullet this election year. Proponents have stopped pushing a measure to prohibit unions from deducting political money from public employee wages. Supporters of the measure had trouble raising enough money to gather the 694,354 valid signatures they needed to qualify the constitutional amendment for the ballot, said Lew Uhler, president of the advocacy group the National Tax Limitation Committee, which worked with the initiative’s proponents.
A program boosting services that help seniors get around Marin was embraced by county transit officials this week, but funding for improvements could hinge on voter approval of higher vehicle registration taxes. Plans under review by the Transportation Authority of Marin could result in a ballot measure this fall calling for a $10 hike in vehicle fees, and county transit officials informally agreed Monday that some of that money should be used to increase transportation services for seniors.
In a deal they say will financially benefit the cash-strapped city and their industry, Santa Rosa’s hoteliers are offering to tack a 3 percent fee onto their daily room rates. The move is expected to generate $1 million a year for the city. There is one major string attached, however. That $1 million would be redirected to the Santa Rosa Convention & Visitors Bureau, where it would be used to promote the city’s lodging industry, attract conventions and fund events like the Tour of California.
A plan to charge California motorists $18 a year to shore up the state parks system’s financial troubles took another step toward the November ballot on Monday when environmental groups submitted about 760,000 signatures to the state. Under state law, the campaign needs 433,931 valid signatures of registered California voters to qualify the initiative. Elections officials have until June 24 to certify the measure.