Daily Archive
Stories Posted on July 7, 2008
Universal Healthcare for Michigan Ballot Measure Fails to Acquire Enough Signatures, Other Ballot Proposals May Qualify
Category: Healthcare · State: Michigan · Source: Michigan State University
A universal health care proposal will not be on Michigan's November ballot because supporters fell short of collecting enough signatures from voters. The Healthcare for Michigan Ballot Committee got about 133,000 signatures for a proposal to require the Legislature to pass laws ensuring every state citizen has affordable and comprehensive health coverage. More than 380,000 valid signatures, or 10 percent of the total votes cast in the last gubernatorial election, are needed to put before voters measures changing the state constitution. John Freeman, a former state representative who led the campaign, said Friday that grass-roots support was great with hundreds of volunteers helping circulate petitions. But the group had money woes, a crucial factor because ballot drives often have to pay people to collect signatures. Freeman said it was tough to raise money because potential donors were tapped a lot during the lengthy Democratic presidential primary season. About 450,000 signatures would have been needed by July 7 as a cushion to get the health care proposal on the ballot, Freeman said. "That's a huge challenge," he said.
Recount Shows Oregon Measure 53 Passes
Category: Crime · State: Oregon · Source: The Oregonian
A recount shows an Oregon constitutional amendment on civil forfeitures narrowly passed. The results released Friday show Measure 53 with 490,158 in favor to 489,477 opposed — a difference of 681 votes. The initial count in the May 20 primary showed the measure winning 489,592 to 489,042 — a difference of 550 votes.
Under Charter, Citizens Take 'initiative'
Category: Initiative and Referendum · State: Pennsylvania · Source: Lancaster Online
But the arguments for "initiative and referendum" changed his mind. Based on citizen input, Miller, a member of the Lancaster County Government Study Commission, and seven others on the 11-person GSC voted in May to amend the draft charter to not only allow people to force the board of county commissioners to consider an issue — but to take that issue to the electorate. "What I failed to see in the beginning was that the power to require consideration without the power for enactment would prove to be a paper tiger and diminish the real intent of initiative, namely government responsiveness to citizen desires," Miller said. Article VI, on initiative and referendum, includes one of the biggest philosophical changes to county government in the home-rule charter. Under the County Code, the state law that now controls the structure of county government, referendum is only allowed under limited conditions.
A Cutting Mood
Category: Taxes · State: Massachusetts · Source: Worchester Telegram
As the Legislature scurried to put the finishing touches on its $28 billion spending plan for fiscal 2009 last week, a move to cut off state government’s principal source of revenue, the income tax, was getting under way. The possibility of the initiative swelling into a full-blown taxpayer revolt is one lawmakers should not take lightly. An initiative petition with more than 15,000 certified signatures, modeled on a similar measure in 2002, would end the state income tax. The signatures, certified by local city and town officials, were filed with the secretary of state on Wednesday by Carla Howell, erstwhile Libertarian Party candidate for governor. The petitioners’ assertion that a “yes” vote on the ballot question would result in an average annual tax windfall of $3,600 per taxpayer and create “hundreds of thousands of new jobs” in the next two years may be pie in the sky, but some taxpayers may find it a tempting dish. In 2002, an abolish-the-income-tax ballot initiative came within 5 percentage points of passing.