Iowa
The citizens of Manly, Iowa have apparently had enough of their city clerk. Earlier this week they collected signatures and presented them to the town council urging them not to reappoint the official:
Opponents of a proposal to raise Iowa City’s bar entry age have begun a petition to do just the opposite. Organizers filed papers Monday with the city to petition for a public vote that would lower the bar entry age to 18 after 10 p.m. They hope the move will thwart the possibility of the city council changing the current ordinance, which allows bars to admit 19-year-olds, to only grant entry to those 21 or older.
Voters across Iowa head to the polls today to decide who will serve on local school boards. They also will decide other ballot issues such as whether to renew physical plant and equipment levies and how to spend money from the sales tax for schools.
Tensions flare as a new petition calls on state lawmakers to ban bicycling on certain roads. The Citizens for Safety Coalition of Iowa started circulating the petition about a month ago. Their 525 or so supporters want legislators to support a ballot initiative banning bikes from 30 thousand miles of state and county roads in Iowa. Those supporting this new petition are concerned about the safety of bicyclists using county roads.
Bernie McKinley was Waterloo’s mayor when voters first approved a local option sales tax for street repairs in 1991. He returned to the City Council chambers Monday to lobby unsuccessfully against plans for a ballot measure to broaden the use of the tax revenues. “This fund cannot afford this (other) stuff,” McKinley said. “We’re not free of potholes; we’re not free of failed streets yet. “This fund and the trust of the people that voted for it should be left the way it was,” he added.
Radio Iowa is reporting that a group calling itself the “Citizens for Safety Coalition of Iowa” is asking people to sign a petition that asks the legislature to create a ballot initiative for the November 2010 election that would ban bicycles on farm-to-market roads.
In 1904, I&R advocates began making headway with an endorsement from the Prohibitionist Party, followed in 1906 by the support of the Socialists and Populists and, in 1910, that of the Democrats. An amendment by Republican State Representative David E. Kulp calling for statewide I&R reached the floor of the lower house of the legislature in 1911, but it was…(Read More)
Winneshiek County residents won’t be voting on the method for electing supervisors this year. A petition had been circulated calling for a vote on matter but it failed to garner the 1,129 signatures (10 percent of the votes cast in the last general election) required. The deadline for obtaining the signatures was Monday.
In 1904, I&R advocates began making headway with an endorsement
from the Prohibitionist Party, followed in 1906 by the support of the
Socialists and Populists and, in 1910, that of the Democrats. An
amendment by Republican State Representative David E. Kulp calling for
statewide I&R reached the floor of the lower house of the legislature in
1911, but it was defeated 58 to 42.
You have no statewide Initiative & Referendum rights.
Poll:
See the results of a poll on support for statewide initiative & referendum here.
Grade: F
Click here to view Iowa’s individual report in Of the People, By the People, For the People: A 2010 Report Card on Statewide Voter Initiative Rights.
Article X
Amendments
Sec 1. How proposed—submission.
Any amendment or amendments to this constitution may be proposed in
either house of the general assembly; and if the same shall be agreed to
by a majority of the members elected to each of the two houses, such
proposed amendment shall be entered on their journals, with the yeas
and nays taken thereon, and referred to the legislature to be chosen at
the next general election, and shall be published, as provided by law, for
At COST we don’t pursue a personal agenda. We promote financial transparency because we believe taxpayers (that does include us — so maybe it is personal) have a right to know how their money is spent. We aren’t fishing for praise or accolades. Our rewards will come when every level of government in Colorado embraces full financial transparency. That doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate compliments when we get them.
The Hudson mayoral election grew a little tighter and Gilbertville learned the name of a new council member Tuesday.
Members of the Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors canvassed the votes for races in the Nov. 6 municipal elections countywide to certify the results.