California
Californians for Fair Auto Insurance Rates is working on gaining support for a voter initiative aimed at the 2010 ballot that reward drivers who have had insurance for some time to be eligible for a “persistency discount,” even if they change carriers.
Supporters of legalized marijuana in California are considering three possible ballot initiatives to legalize recreational usage of the plant. Two of the initiatives are aiming to be placed on the 2010 ballot and supporters of another are looking toward the 2012 ballot. If a bill currently moving through the legislature to legalize marijuana passes voters won’t have to weigh in at all.
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An initiative that would establish rent control and offer ownership of condo conversions at El Dorado Mobile Estates will go before Fillmore voters in a special election Nov. 3. At an emotional City Council meeting earlier this month in which several members of the public denounced the Fair Rent and Homeownership Initiative, the council again rejected a request by the measure’s proponents to adopt it as a city ordinance. Instead, the council voted unanimously to place the measure on the ballot.
A proposal that would give Sacramento’s mayor more authority has narrowly qualified for the ballot. Mayor Kevin Johnson is behind the measure, which would change the structure of city government from a weak mayor-strong city manager system. The mayor currently only has one vote on the council. Under Johnson’s proposal, the mayor would have powers that include proposing the city budget, appointing department heads and having veto authority over the council.
San Francisco supervisors on Tuesday yanked a $368 million streets bond that would have gone before voters in November after poll numbers reportedly showed little support for the measure. The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday also tabled a tax measure that was headed for the November ballot. The proposed increase to the vehicle license fee, as well as the streets bond measure, could still appear on a ballot in 2010, said Board of Supervisors President David Chiu.
Voters in November will once again be asked if they want to stop directly electing the city’s mayor. The City Council voted Monday to place on the Nov. 3 ballot an initiative that would eliminate the elected mayor post and replace it with rotating mayorship. A similar measure failed four years ago.
An initiative to increase the powers of Sacramento’s mayor has enough valid signatures to qualify for a possible citywide referendum, elections officials said. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson proposed the initiative shortly after he was elected in November. Supporters collected 52,062 petition signatures between January and June.
Oakland pot activists fresh off a victory at local polls on the taxing of medical marijuana took their first official step Tuesday toward asking California voters to legalize pot. A proposed ballot measure filed with the California attorney general’s office would allow adults 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of pot. Homeowners could grow marijuana for personal use on garden plots up to 25 square feet.
Banning City Council tonight considers whether to ask voters to approve an increase in the hotel tax on the Nov. 3 ballot. As outlined in the agenda for tonight’s meeting, the measure, if approved by voters, would boost the existing tax on overnight hotel and motel guests in Banning from 6 to 12 percent. That would bring in an additional $275,000 to $300,000 a year, according to the city’s calculations.
Citizens in Charge Foundation President Paul Jacob has some harsh words in the New York Times for new Oregon restrictions on the ballot initiative process:
As the Capitol sifts through the residue of last week’s new deal on the state budget, Republican Assemblyman Anthony Adams is still coping with the fallout from February’s budget deal, one in which he broke partisan ranks and voted to impose new income, sales and vehicle taxes. Conservative activists, egged on by popular Southern California radio talkers John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, launched a recall drive against Adams, whose district sprawls across a wide swath of Southern California deserts and suburbs.
Oakland voters overwhelmingly approved four ballot measures in an unusual mail-only election Tuesday that sought to ease the city’s tight budget situation. All four measures passed with at least 71 percent of the vote, with well over 90 percent of the ballots counted. Measure F’s creation of a business license tax for cannabis businesses got approval from 79.9 percent of voters, the highest of any measure.
Nearly nine months after California voters banned same-sex marriage in the state, gay marriage supporters are ready to ask them to overturn Proposition 8. They’re just not sure when to ask: In November 2010 or November 2012. Choosing a date involves more than sifting through the polling, community meetings and consultants’ reports that have filled the time since last fall’s election with soul-searching and finger-pointing among supporters, culminating in a meeting of the movement’s leaders Saturday in San Bernardino.
Bob Behn, a lecturer in public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, was interviewed recently about the budgetary crisis facing California.
In what is an otherwise good discussion of the state’s fiscal issues, Mr. Behn ends with an oft-cited criticism of the initiative process:
Voters in Oakland overwhelmingly approved the nation’s first tax on medical marijuana that is sold ad city cannabis clubs. The new tax rate will be $18 out of every $1,000 in sales at the clubs, generating nearly $300,000 in revenue for the city.
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