California
What if I told you that there is an effect underway by Democrats inside of the State Capitol to make it more difficult and expensive to qualify ballot measures? Would you be shocked? Would it really surprise you that a legislature that has its own ability to place measures on the ballot (like the taxes that were rejected by voters last May) doesn’t want the people to have that same power?
Today several state and national grassroot organizations are denouncing California Senate Bill 34 aimed at silencing voters by restricting the citizen initiative process. In an open letter to the California State Legislature, citizens are speaking out on the legislation that targets their First Amendment rights.
Modesto voters in November will be asked if they think the city should grow outside its current boundary to accommodate projects that could yield business parks and land for industrial development. The City Council on Tuesday voted to place five areas outside the city limit before residents on advisory votes that could indicate public support for them.
Ballot Access News reports that California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is likely to veto Senate Bill 34. The bill, which passed an Assembly committee yesterday, would ban paying petition circulators by the signature.
A university student has launched a petition drive to limit members of the Rancho Santa Margarita city council to two terms. Currently council members can serve an unlimited number of four-year terms.
An editorial in today’s Sacramento Bee indicates that it is California’s irresponsible lawmakers that are to blame for the state’s budget woes. Critics are often quick to blame Proposition 13, the historic property tax limitation, for budget problems. As Dan Walters points out, property tax revenues have risen 800 percent since the passage of Prop 13.
San Luis Obispo County voters reject a measure intended to control the mosquito population. The county’s Public Health Department says 67 percent voted against the ballot measure. 33 percent voted in favor of it.
Critics of a ballot initiative aimed at making changes to California’s auto insurance regulations say that the initiative would result in higher rates for drivers. The initiative would change part of the regulations set by Proposition 103 in 1988 to allow companies to charge fees to drivers who are not continuously covered. After passage of Prop 103 California insurance rates fell from being 30% higher than the national average to even with it.
Measure E has lost in the Rowland Unified School District, according to the semi-final official election results on the Web site of the Registrar-Recorder of Los Angeles County.
Californians are one step closer to ending the “Anchor Baby” births by illegals throughout the state. In an effort to close ever-expanding social service programs the California Taxpayer Protection Act of 2010, Initiative 09-0010 has begun the signature process. The Attorney General of California released the last bit of paperwork required to get the “birth tourism” legislation moving forward. Petitioners must now collect approximately 450,000 California registered voter signatures.
According to League of Women Voters member and all around political gadfly Jon Spangler, the City is considering placing a competing measure on the November ballot to go head to head with the Firefighter ballot initiative. The Firefighter led initiative would change the City Charter to mandate a minimum level of staffing for the department that would require the City to fund that department at the minimum level designated by the initiative.
California would lose its direct initiative system in favor of a less powerful indirect initiative system under any of three laws floating in the legislature. Under the changes initiatives would go to lowmakers, who could change them from the form voters agreed to on petitions, before seeing the ballot.
Three California lawmakers want to give the Legislature a chance to reshape ballot initiatives before they’re acted on by voters, a process that supporters say could result in fewer but better proposals reaching the ballot. “Nobody can write a perfect initiative; nobody can write a perfect law,” said Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies, a Los Angeles think tank. “If the Legislature can work something out with (initiative) proponents, it will be a better-drafted measure.”
Contact the Citizen State Coordinator in your state to get involved protecting and expanding the initiative and referendum process. If you don’t see a Coordinator listed for your state, click here to apply.
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National Citizen Coordinator - Greg Schmid
Click here to email Greg.
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Arizona - Eric Ehst
Click here to email Eric
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California - Bruce Cohen
Click here to email Bruce
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A group of Walnut Creek residents are embarking on yet another signature-gathering campaign, this one to get an initiative on the ballot that could affect downtown development for decades ”” giving residents a direct vote on development. Its adoption would ease downtown parking and traffic problems, supporters say.