http://www.citizensincharge.org/news/newswire/index.html The latest news about initiative and referendum brought to you be the Citizens in Charge Foundation. en-us Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:31:46 -0500 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Movable Type 4 Dozens of state organizations and elected officials have endorsed Referendum O, a measure that proposes to transform Colorado's ballot initiative process. Under current state law, there is no difference in the process between putting a statutory measure or a constitutional amendment on the ballot. Ref O seeks to change this. According Rep. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, special interests have no reason not to put something in the constitution. “If they’re going to the trouble of collecting signatures, spending money in the media to get a "yes" vote for their campaign, if there is no difference between statutory and constitutional, they’re going to go for a constitutional measure,” she said in a Face The State podcast. Ref O would alter the process between statutory and constitutional measures by changing signature-gathering requirements, mandating that campaigns gather signatures from each of the state’s seven Congressional districts. It would also increase the number of voter signatures needed for a constitutional change to 6 percent of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election, up from the current requirement 5 percent, or just over 76,000. http://facethestate.com/articles/ref-o-benefits-support-heavy-hitters http://facethestate.com/articles/ref-o-benefits-support-heavy-hitters Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:31:46 -0500 An initiative that would have preserved affirmative action programs in Colorado fell short of the required number of signatures to make November's crowded ballot, the secretary of state's office said Wednesday. Initiative 82 was nearly 8,000 signatures short following a line-by- line verification of the petitions, according to Secretary of State Mike Coffman. There are 18 statewide issues on the Nov. 4 ballot, in addition to local ballot questions and races, state legislative contests, and U.S. House, Senate and presidential races. "Don't throw away your blue book when you get it," said Rich Coolidge, Coffman's spokesman, of the official state voter guide mailed to voters. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/sep/03/affirmative-action-protection-measure-falls-short/ http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/sep/03/affirmative-action-protection-measure-falls-short/ Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:56:40 -0500 A Cole County judge has upheld Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan's decision to toss out thousands of signatures on two eminent domain ballot petitions. Judge Richard Callahan ruled that petition circulators must be properly registered with the Secretary of State's office; otherwise, the signatures they collect cannot be counted. The decision affects around 4,300 signatures from the St. Louis area. Laura Egerdal is Communications Director for Carnahan. "You know, at this point, (the) statute is very clear that we are prohibited from accepting signatures that were collected by unregistered circulators," Egerdal said. Ron Calzone, who chairs the group Missouri Citizens for Property Rights, disagrees. http://publicbroadcasting.net/kwmu/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1355732&sectionID=1 http://publicbroadcasting.net/kwmu/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1355732&sectionID=1 Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:00:35 -0500 The Allegheny County Board of Elections yesterday ruled that both referendum questions on the 10 percent drink tax should not be placed on the November ballot because they are illegal according to county and state law. In a ruling that seems to be a bigger blow to the restaurateurs and bar owners than it is to the county, the three judges temporarily serving as Board of Elections members unanimously declined to certify either ballot initiative. Bar and restaurant owners wanted to decrease the drink tax to 0.5 percent from 10 percent. The county wanted a referendum to offset a loss in drink tax revenues with a property tax increase. The county judges, appointed to replace the regular board members because of their public positions on both measures, cited established case law -- Hempfield School District v. Lancaster County -- to knock down the referendum petition by the group Friends Against Counterproductive Taxation, called FACT. FACT is composed of restaurateurs and bar owners who have opposed the drink tax since it was proposed together with a $2-a-day tax on car rentals to fund mass transit. It submitted 44,598 petition signatures to the county elections office last month in support of a ballot initiative to ask voters whether they want a reduction in the drink tax. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08247/908850-455.stm http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08247/908850-455.stm Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:43:36 -0500 On the Nov. 4 ballot, Austin residents will not only face a decision between McCain and Obama, but also whether to prevent the city from subsidizing retail stores. If approved, a new citizen-led initiative called Stop Domain Subsidies will halt any tax rebates or subsidies provided by the city to retail stores. City officials designed the subsidies to generate more tax revenue by attracting more retail stores. In its last meeting, the city council approved the initiative's wording for the Nov. 4 ballot. Brian Rodgers, a local real estate investor, started the campaign in response to the 2003 city council decision to provide Endeavor Real Estate Group and its partner Simon Property Group Inc. with tax rebates for 20 years to develop retail space in Austin. In May of that year, the development company proposed to build a large mall center with 700,000 square feet of luxury retail and restaurant space called The Domain. In a 6-1 decision, council members approved the project and included a $65 million tax rebate to be provided over 20 years to the developers in the contract, Rodgers said. If Rodgers' initiative is unsuccessful, the city will also return 50 to 80 percent of the mall's sales tax to the developer. The money would allow The Domain to further generate profit. http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2008/08/25/TopStories/Initiative.Will.Aim.To.Cut.Subsidies.To.Retail.Stores-3404252.shtml http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2008/08/25/TopStories/Initiative.Will.Aim.To.Cut.Subsidies.To.Retail.Stores-3404252.shtml Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:20:15 -0500 Salmon and gold mining. Both are, inarguably, very Alaskan. But on Tuesday, Alaskans will vote on a ballot measure that is being framed as a choice between the two industries and portrayed by both sides as striking at the heart of what it means to be Alaskan. The initiative was drafted to block the proposed Pebble Mine, a massive operation that would extract gold, copper and molybdenum from the tundra surrounding Bristol Bay in southwest Alaska, one of the world's most lucrative wild salmon fisheries. The measure would prohibit any new large metal mines from polluting salmon streams or drinking-water sources. Proponents acknowledge that they drafted the measure to block the Pebble Mine, which they say will poison two major streams where salmon come to spawn. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/24/AR2008082401674.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/24/AR2008082401674.html Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:36:38 -0500 An initiative that would amend the Arizona Constitution to ban affirmative-action programs in the state was disqualified from the ballot Thursday by Secretary of State Jan Brewer. Proposition 104, known as the Arizona Civil Rights Initiative, becomes the third measure this year to be booted from the ballot because of failure to submit enough valid signatures to the state. Prop. 104 proponents vowed to appeal, probably early next week. In other action Thursday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Mark Aceto dealt a setback to supporters of a proposed transportation initiative as he refused to restore the measure to the ballot. Supporters of the TIME initiative, dealing with signature problems similar to the civil-rights measure, now plan to appeal to the state Supreme Court. The Arizona Civil Rights Initiative initially submitted 334,735 signatures to the state. But following petition reviews by the Secretary of State's Office and the state's 15 county recorders, that number was whittled down to 194,961 valid signatures. That's short of the 230,047 required for a Constitutional amendment. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/08/22/20080822affirmative0822.html http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/08/22/20080822affirmative0822.html Sun, 24 Aug 2008 11:19:53 -0500 County commissioners decided Wednesday to ask residents whether they want to squelch themselves. By a 4-1 vote, commissioners agreed to put four proposed charter amendments on the Nov. 4 ballot. The changes, if approved by voters, would make it harder for citizens to change the county charter or enact ordinances commissioners refused to consider. They would also prevent any question regarding citizen initiatives or tax referendums from being considered at any time other than during general elections every two years. Commissioner Jean Reed was the lone dissenting vote on the measures involving charter amendments. The tax amendment proposal passed unanimously. http://www.theledger.com/article/20080820/NEWS/808200365/1134&title=Voters_to_Be_Asked_Whether_To_Limit_Citizen_Initiatives_in_Polk http://www.theledger.com/article/20080820/NEWS/808200365/1134&title=Voters_to_Be_Asked_Whether_To_Limit_Citizen_Initiatives_in_Polk Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:36:50 -0500 Tens of thousands of dollars is being raised in an effort to persuade Connecticut voters to reject a proposal on the November ballot to reopen the state constitution. The state's largest teachers union, the Connecticut Education Association, has contributed $40,000 to the group "Vote No: Protect Our Constitution." Planned Parenthood of Connecticut has given $5,000 to the same cause, according to filings with the State Elections Enforcement Commission. That news prompted one member of the group pushing to change the constitution, the Connecticut Constitution Convention Campaign, to send out e-mails urging its members to contribute. The campaign is a coalition of groups that wants voters to approve a state convention so the Connecticut constitution can be changed. The Connecticut Constitution Convention Campaign has raised $1,110. http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-ctapquestion0820.artaug20,0,219880.story http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-ctapquestion0820.artaug20,0,219880.story Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:01:43 -0500 Measure seeks to allow state to sell land to local governments at market value Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer last Friday disqualified Proposition 103 — the “Conserving Arizona’s Water and Land Initiative” — from appearing on the Nov. 4 ballot. Proponents of the measure seek to reform the Arizona State Land Department and how its holdings are managed and sold. According to the state constitution, the land department has to put lands up for sale at public auction. The initiative would change that, allowing the state to sell the lands directly to local governments for purposes of conservation. The measure also would have set aside 570,000 acres of the state land department’s 9 million acres for permanent protection. But the measure lacked the minimum number of signatures to make it on the ballot, according to Brewer. http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2008/08/20/news/doc48ab535e9d447089712185.txt http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2008/08/20/news/doc48ab535e9d447089712185.txt Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:13:14 -0500 A Honolulu judge ruled Thursday that the city clerk’s office must accept an anti-rail petition. Members of Stop Rail Now say they believe the ruling paves the way to allow Oahu residents to vote on a proposed ordinance this fall that reads, “Honolulu mass transit shall not include trains or rail.” Circuit Court Judge Karl Sakamoto’s decision means the city clerk must accept and verify within 20 days whether Stop Rail Now has gathered a sufficient number of valid signatures. City Clerk Denise De Costa had argued the petition was delivered too late to be placed on the Nov. 4 ballot. Stop Rail Now said it has collected more than 49,000 signatures and will deliver the petition Thursday afternoon. http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2008/08/11/daily38.html http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2008/08/11/daily38.html Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:09:44 -0500 Councilman Eric Crafton turned in the signatures of reportedly 12,503 registered Davidson County voters to the Metro Clerk's office Thursday, clearing the way for the English Only charter amendment proposal to be on the ballot in November. Crafton also conceded at least a portion of the approximately $20,000 the petition drive cost came from a national English First group. He said he did not know what percentage. "I wasn't the one adding them up, so I don't know how much," Crafton said. The signatures will need to be verified by the Davidson County Election Commission, which Crafton said should take about two weeks. The English Only charter amendment proposal states that no one has a right to any Metro government services in any language except English. Crafton said the Nashville English First group, which sponsored the initiative raised about $20,000 for the effort, which primarily consisted of mailing petitions to voters. Crafton did not disclose the funding for the initiative, but said he would do so once the signed petitions were verified by the Election Commission. http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/news.php?viewStory=62139 http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/news.php?viewStory=62139 Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:06:43 -0500 Secretary of State Ross Miller on Thursday rejected a challenge to Sharron Angle's initiative petition to cap property tax rates, sending it to the November general election. The constitutional amendment, which would limit annual property tax increases to 2 percent per year on all property, faced a challenge from the state teachers union aimed at keeping it off the ballot. After a review of the complaint and the response from Angle's attorney, the concerns over the affidavits filed by signature gatherers were rejected, said Matt Griffin, deputy secretary of state for elections. Barring a successful legal challenge by the Nevada State Education Association in the courts, the measure will be on the ballot, he said. It will have to pass twice, in November and again in 2010, before it can take effect. http://www.lvrj.com/news/27011059.html http://www.lvrj.com/news/27011059.html Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:54:50 -0500 A dozen Gloucester residents representing several community groups have initiated a recall of Mayor Carolyn Kirk, saying her handling of the high school "pregnancy pact" brouhaha was the final straw in her failure to lead the city "fairly and effectively." In a petition being circulated, the group also says the mayor has failed to ensure open government by refusing to investigate and prosecute waste and fraud, particularly in the police and public works departments. Annette Dion, a 45-year-old private music teacher in Gloucester, said the resignation last week of Gloucester High principal Joseph Sullivan, a decision he said was based on what he termed slander by the mayor, was the boiling point in the group's built-up frustrations with Kirk's administration. "We don't agree with Carolyn Kirk's style of leading the city," Dion said. "In many instances, she's not met with people who have asked. She's not really been very good with the public." http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/08/16/gloucester_residents_initiate_recall_of_mayor/ http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/08/16/gloucester_residents_initiate_recall_of_mayor/ Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:46:24 -0500 Clear as mud. Those three words pretty well sum up the status of a local petition drive to limit the compensation of individual Chippewa County Commissioners to $8,400. “We all know the value of petitions,” said one of the key members of the grassroots organization, Debbie Sirk, in presenting the signatures to the board. “Now let’s work together to find a way to put this on the ballot.” The commissioners, however, expressed a reluctance to give their approval and, from all indications, they weren’t even sure if they could. Commissioner Scott Shackleton said that while he had a tremendous amount of respect for the democratic process and the citizen petition, he didn’t feel it was the county commission’s responsibility to put the question on the ballot. Shackleton said he would have the same reservations if the group was asking for a park designation or petitioning for taxes to go up or down. http://www.sooeveningnews.com/articles/2008/08/13/news/news128.txt http://www.sooeveningnews.com/articles/2008/08/13/news/news128.txt Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:37:05 -0500 Metro Nashville Councilman Eric Crafton, one of the driving forces behind the English-only ballot initiative, will deliver about 12,500 signed petition cards to the Metro clerk at noon tomorrow, Crafton said. Crafton also has filed a bill that calls for individuals to pay a fee if they need translation to deal with Metro government. On Tuesday, the council will have the option to take the first of three votes on the translation fee measure. Since mid-June, Crafton and a small group of English-only policy supporters have worked to revive an effort to make English Nashville's official language and restrict government business, publications, meetings and communications to the English language. A similar measure passed the Metro Council last year but was vetoed by then-mayor Bill Purcell. To bypass the possibility of a mayoral veto, Crafton opted this time to attempt to amend the Metro Charter. http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080814/NEWS0202/808140375/1009/NEWS01 http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080814/NEWS0202/808140375/1009/NEWS01 Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:33:59 -0500 The Say Yes to Sunday group says it has more than enough signatures to give Ottawa County voters a chance to repeal the ban on Sunday beer and wine sales. Now they'll have to wait and see how many of those petition signatures are from registered Ottawa County voters. The group said it has 39,700 signatures as of 8 this morning, which — if they are all valid — is 1,944 more than necessary to get the measure on the Nov. 4 ballot. Say Yes to Sunday spokesman Jim Storey said the group could have between 41,000 and 42,000 signatures by the time members deliver the petition to County Clerk Dan Krueger this afternoon. http://www.grandhaventribune.com/paid/293159762014757.bsp http://www.grandhaventribune.com/paid/293159762014757.bsp Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:34:51 -0500 WHEN it comes to creativity, the Oklahoma Education Association deserves a failing grade. Time and again, the state's largest teachers union has made clear that it cares more about teachers' paychecks, money grabs and the status quo than taxpayers and the state's overall well-being. The latest evidence is an effort to amend the Oklahoma Constitution and force taxpayers to spend millions of dollars more per year on common education. The union has started an initiative petition drive to get the proposed amendment on a 2010 statewide ballot. If the drive is successful, voters would be asked to change the constitution and require lawmakers to fund schools at the regional average in per-pupil expenditures. The change could shift $850 million in state funding to common education from other state services or require tax increases. http://newsok.com/power-play-oea-isnt-in-the-voters-corner/article/3280983/?tm=1218295577 http://newsok.com/power-play-oea-isnt-in-the-voters-corner/article/3280983/?tm=1218295577 Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:42:43 -0500 An ambitious statewide transportation measure, championed by Gov. Janet Napolitano and a cadre of Arizona’s most powerful interest groups, has failed to make the November ballot. Secretary of State Jan Brewer announced Monday that Proposition 203, the TIME initiative, had fallen thousands of signatures short of the 153,365 needed to qualify. Nearly half of the 260,698 signatures submitted by last month’s deadline were tossed out. “I am very surprised that a ballot measure ended up with over 42 percent of its signatures being invalid,” Brewer said in a statement. “That is among the largest overall invalid rates that I can recall ever seeing from a citizens initiative drive.” The initiative, backed by business and economic development groups, would have asked voters for a 1-cent state sales tax hike to finance $42 billion worth of freeways, trains, buses and other transportation needs. http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/122814 http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/122814 Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:40:21 -0500 The education lobby will soon ask Oklahoma voters to sign a petition requiring that our state per-pupil school spending must always equal the regional average. There are at least four reasons why this is a bad and dangerous idea. First, anyone who knows basic arithmetic understands why this won't work. Every time you raise Oklahoma's per-pupil spending you also raise the regional average, even if the other states in our region do nothing. That ever-escalating average then becomes the carrot at the end of a stick, forever just out of reach. You can never equal a moving average when what you do drives that average forward. Second, the petition would require the immediate allocation of at least 850 million new dollars to the schools. Since the Oklahoma Constitution insists that we balance our budget, those dollars could come from only two places — other state programs or tax increases. http://newsok.com/petition-idea-doesnt-add-up/article/3281006/ http://newsok.com/petition-idea-doesnt-add-up/article/3281006/ Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:02:39 -0500 Residents in Troy may get to decide during the November election whether the city would need to get voter approval for future tax increases. Advertisement The Troy City Council is considering a citizen-initiated petition, signed by more than 2,700 residents, that proposes freezing the city's tax rate for operating and capital costs at 8.1 mills, costing a resident with a home that has a $124,885 taxable value -- the average in Troy -- $1,012 a year. The council discussed the issue Monday but postponed making a decision until the Aug. 11 meeting. "I am 100% for the people and putting it on the ballot," Troy resident Audre Zembrzuski, who signed the petition, told the council Monday. "I think it's about time we got down to brass tacks." http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080725/NEWS03/807250424/1005/NEWS03 http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080725/NEWS03/807250424/1005/NEWS03 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:24:23 -0500 The group backing an initiative on the November ballot to raise the state sales tax to fund transportation won a battle to get the proposal's description rewritten in the voter information pamphlet. The initiative would add a penny tax on each dollar spent to pay for 30 years' worth of road and transit projects statewide. Supporters went to court over the wording in a state voter information pamphlet approved by a legislative committee, saying it would sway voters to say no. http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/251324 http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/251324 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:18:52 -0500 North Dakota's fall lineup of ballot initiatives may include proposals to discourage smoking, cut income taxes, ban fenced hunting and revamp the administration of North Dakota's workers compensation agency. Supporters of the workers compensation and hunting measures turned in their petitions Tuesday, hours before a midnight deadline arrived. The measures had to be submitted before the deadline to have a chance for a spot on the Nov. 4 general election ballot. http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/08/06/ap5295352.html http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/08/06/ap5295352.html Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:07:56 -0500 Railing against the "club" of Big Oil and promising to shake up "management entrenchment," T. Boone Pickens once turned his epic takeover battles with oil companies into a national effort to make public companies more accountable to shareholders. He modeled his effort on a political campaign - complete with lobbyists, grass-roots supporters and his own money. A corporate raider whose duels with incumbent managers earned him millions, Mr. Pickens became the public advocate of shareholders betrayed by dull corporate bosses. Now 80, Mr. Pickens is again casting business as a "crusade," as a Democratic senator once put it. On commercials and in testimony before Congress, he is urging the country to use more wind power and natural gas - the focus of his own investments - to wean itself off foreign oil. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/080708dnbuspickens.42abd0f.html http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/080708dnbuspickens.42abd0f.html Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:03:36 -0500 Should Connecticut citizens have the right to petition issues onto a ballot for a statewide vote? That’s the question that will be asked if voters approve a referendum question in November calling for a constitutional convention. Thirty-one states now allow ballot initiatives, whereby citizens can bypass the legislative process and petition to have referendum questions on issues put directly to voters for approval or rejection. There are several groups in the state that support amending the state constitution to allow ballot initiatives — and hope a constitutional convention will serve as the vehicle for that. http://www.norwichbulletin.com/opinions/x379979022/Our-View-Ballot-initiatives-could-give-voters-greater-voice http://www.norwichbulletin.com/opinions/x379979022/Our-View-Ballot-initiatives-could-give-voters-greater-voice Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:10:39 -0500 Leading public education support groups including the Oklahoma Education Association filed a petition Wednesday with the state to put to a vote of the people a requirement that Oklahoma's students are funded at the average of the seven-state regional level. Chuck Pack, a teacher at Tahlequah High School, said he is spending about $600 a school year so that his math students have adequate supplies. http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080806_12_OKLA265486 http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080806_12_OKLA265486 Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:06:42 -0500 A union that represents county employees, including 911 operators, public health nurses and sheriff’s deputies, wants county voters to have a chance to approve a provision giving them binding arbitration in negotiations with the county. But county officials and the union that represents teachers are questioning tactics being used by an out-of-state firm hired to obtain signatures for the ballot question. “I don’t care about people getting signatures, I just don’t want people doing it in our name,” said Cheryl Bost, president of the Teachers Association of Baltimore County. The union represents 6,000 teachers and other school employees in the county. http://www.explorebaltimorecounty.com/news/2073/Petition-TT/ http://www.explorebaltimorecounty.com/news/2073/Petition-TT/ Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:43:07 -0500 The group trying to rid Lakewood of minicasinos appears to have collected enough signatures to put its initiative on the ballot. City voters would make the final decision as part of the busy general election in November. City Manager Andrew Neiditz told the Lakewood City Council Monday night that he spoke with Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy’s office earlier in the day. The county said that after an initial count of all signatures gathered in the city’s first-ever citizen initiative campaign, 3,904 are valid. The Save Lakewood group needs at least 3,707 valid signatures to force city leaders to ban minicasinos or put it to a public vote. The county will check all 6,138 signatures again for their validity, but the Auditor’s Office doesn’t expect the number that are valid to go down, Neiditz said. http://www.thenewstribune.com/front/topstories/story/434873.html http://www.thenewstribune.com/front/topstories/story/434873.html Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:41:13 -0500 Drink tax foes will submit a petition to the Allegheny County board of elections today, setting the stage for dueling ballot referenda in November on the controversial levy. Friends Against Counterproductive Taxation amassed far more than the required 23,006 signatures to get its measure on the ballot, said the group's attorney, Cris Hoel. The referendum, if approved by county voters, would mandate that the tax on poured alcoholic drinks be reduced from 10 percent to no more than 0.5 percent. County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and his allies on County Council oppose such a measure, saying that reducing or eliminating the drink tax -- which, along with a $2-per-day rental car tax, helps fund the Port Authority -- would require a property tax hike to compensate. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08218/901855-85.stm http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08218/901855-85.stm Tue, 05 Aug 2008 13:42:06 -0500 Massachusetts is about the last place one would expect a tax revolt, but that's what's brewing in Beantown. The state board of elections recently certified that citizen activists have gathered the 125,000 signatures required to qualify an initiative for the November ballot to eliminate the state income tax. The Small Government Act would repeal the 5.3% income and wage tax, as well as the state capital gains tax, which reaches as high as 12%. The ballot initiative would replace the $12.5 billion in taxes with . . . nothing. "One of the points here," explains Carla Howell of the Committee for Small Government that is driving the referendum, "is to force the state legislators to start cutting the bloated state budget." The political shock of having no income tax would force the pols on Beacon Hill to make the difficult spending choices they now refuse to make. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121789224035011709.html?mod=googlenews_wsj http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121789224035011709.html?mod=googlenews_wsj Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:27:33 -0500 Oregonians legalized assisted suicide a decade ago. Now, Washington may be the second state in the country to allow terminal patients to expedite their death. "I suppose if they made you a zombie, that they could take away all your humanity in order to relieve you of pain, put you in a coma practically," said Ginger Vetrano, who gathered signatures around the Tri-Cities to put the initiative on the ballot. Initiative 1000, better known as "Death With Dignity," boils down to a sick person's right to choose when he or she wants to die. It would allow doctors to prescribe a lethal prescription to patients with six months or less to live. "It's something I would want for myself and my mother and anybody else I loved," said Vetrano. If it passed, two doctors would have to independently verify that the patient is mentally competent to make the decision, and that no one has coerced him or her to choose to die early. Vetrano says it's a question of choice. "I think we're all autonomous people," she said. "I wouldn't want to make the decision for you, and I hope you wouldn't want to make the decision for me." http://www.kimatv.com/news/local/26212184.html http://www.kimatv.com/news/local/26212184.html Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:09:15 -0500 Leaders of an anti-rail group say they have collected enough signatures for a petition initiative that could stop the city’s proposed $4 billion rail transit system. They planned to submit it to the City Clerk's Office by 2 p.m. today. Cliff Slater, an organizer of Stop Rail Now, said they had collected about 49,000 signatures as of yesterday, when they made their final rally for signatures outside the organization's South Street headquarters. http://starbulletin.com/2008/08/04/news/story02.html http://starbulletin.com/2008/08/04/news/story02.html Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:58:49 -0500 Too many proposals and not enough time are adding up to heartburn for backers of several state ballot initiatives. Some of the proposals that supporters hope to put before voters this November are chalking up higher-than-normal error rates, potentially imperiling their chances of getting on the ballot. This could have consequences for ballot measures that seek to preserve state trust land, to increase the state sales tax to pay for transportation projects and to block any attempt to institute a real-estate-transfer tax. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/08/03/20080803ballot0803.html http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/08/03/20080803ballot0803.html Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:45:42 -0500 A petition with more than 400 signatures calls for the Village of North Fond du Lac to go to referendum for all future expenditures that exceed $1 million. The petition was filed in the village office on Thursday, just one day after a heated public hearing during which officials moved plans forward, despite some citizen opposition, for a $37 million lakeside hotel/convention center/marina. Copies of the petition were being circulated during the meeting Wednesday night that ended when members of the village’s Community Development Authority (CDA) approved a resolution that launches the process for formation of a tax incremental financing (TIF) district. The TIF district would help fund redevelopment of land, and the proposed Winnebago Project resort, to be located along Lake Winnebago on blighted property owned by developer Alex Zabel. http://www.fdlreporter.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080803/FON0101/80803005/1985 http://www.fdlreporter.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080803/FON0101/80803005/1985 Mon, 04 Aug 2008 12:59:12 -0500 Oddsmakers didn’t favor diminutive David over giant Goliath. But in that mismatch of biblical proportions, David had a secret weapon: a slingshot. The voter initiative process — whereby citizens in 24 states and a majority of our country’s localities can place issues directly on the ballot for a decision by their fellow citizens — looks like nothing bigger than a slingshot next to the Goliath powers of government. But sometimes the slingshot works. From the property tax-cutting Proposition 13 in the 1970s to the sweep of term limits in the 1990s, citizens have increased their control over elected officials using this one weapon. Of course, had Goliath been smarter, or allotted more time for reflection prior to meeting David’s rock, he would no doubt have advocated restrictions on the possession and use of slingshots. http://www.examiner.com/a-1519138~A_modern_slingshot_for_voters.html http://www.examiner.com/a-1519138~A_modern_slingshot_for_voters.html Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:05:11 -0500 While the decline of Republican dominance in Colorado has been the topic of endless media speculation, the GOP has one bright spot heading toward November: The initiative process. A report carried in this week’s LA Times falsely suggested otherwise. Titled “GOP suffering from a lack of (ballot) initiative,” reporters Dan Morain and Nicholas Riccardi eagerly proclaimed that “The strategy of pushing propositions likely to draw conservatives to the polls has faltered as Republicans face mishaps in drafting measures and a more aggressive opposition.” While Morain and Riccardi are right that Colorado initiatives are facing aggressive opposition from well-funded liberals, including multiple millionaire and labor-backed lawsuits, the fact remains that of the four initiatives certified for the November ballot, all represent conservative or free-market efforts. As of Wednesday, not a single liberal initiative had been approved. But Morain and Riccardi got this basic fact wrong as well, writing, “. . . Democrats have succeeded in qualifying measures of their own [in Colorado].” http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/initiatives_a_bright_spot_for_colorado_gop/C530/L37/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/initiatives_a_bright_spot_for_colorado_gop/C530/L37/ Sat, 02 Aug 2008 14:15:04 -0500 In 2004, Republicans managed to put measures on the ballot in 11 states to ban same-sex marriage, a red-hot family values issue that boosted conservative turnout and played a role in President Bush's reelection. The strategy seemed certain to have a prominent place in the GOP political playbook. But four years later, few key battleground states will vote on propositions likely to excite conservatives. Republicans have been tripped up by mishaps and errors that have kept measures off the ballot. One leading ballot measure activist was sidelined for this November's contests after being arrested in Oklahoma on charges of violating petition rules. Some conservative strategists also blame a lack of new ideas for initiatives. They say the right, beaten down by the Republican Party's dismal rankings in the polls and its lukewarm electoral prospects, has no stomach this year for expensive initiative battles. "There has been a lack of funding on the right side, up and down. The right is despondent and demoralized," said Tim Mooney, an Arizona initiative consultant. http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-ballot29-2008jul29,0,845120.story?page=1 http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-ballot29-2008jul29,0,845120.story?page=1 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:09:19 -0500 “Enough is enough.” That’s the message Gov. Bill Ritter brought to Grand Junction on Thursday in his pitch for eliminating a lucrative tax credit Colorado’s oil and gas companies receive. Ritter told The Daily Sentinel’s editorial board that abolishing Colorado’s “ad valorem” tax credit is a matter of “fairness.” Ritter said the tax credit, which allows energy companies to subtract 87.5 percent of their property tax bills from the severance taxes they owe, has its roots in the late 1970s when Colorado wanted to help the energy industry establish itself in the state. State economists have credited the subsidy with severely eating into the amount of money Colorado can use to confront the stresses energy development places on local governments and public infrastructure. Ritter said the need for the credit is gone, given the health of the energy industry in Colorado. “There is a time when a tax credit becomes obsolete as a matter of fiscal policy,” Ritter said. http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2008/07/31/080108_1a_Ritter_severance_tax.html http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2008/07/31/080108_1a_Ritter_severance_tax.html Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:48:37 -0500 Ward Connerly, Jennifer Gratz, and the state leaders in Colorado, Arizona, and Nebraska have collected enough signatures to put civil-rights ballot initiatives before the voters there this November. These initiatives will ban preferences based on race, ethnicity, and sex — a.k.a., affirmative action — in public contracting, education, and employment. It wasn’t easy. Similar measures have passed overwhelmingly now in blue states like California, Washington, and Michigan, so the defenders of such discrimination are increasingly desperate to keep these initiatives away from the voters. http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=M2I5MWViY2ZiZjkxYzJhZDIxYTcxMTM2ODIxOTcxODc http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=M2I5MWViY2ZiZjkxYzJhZDIxYTcxMTM2ODIxOTcxODc Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:29:48 -0500 California’s crown as the king of the initiative is about to be snatched by Colorado. The Colorado secretary of State’s office is besieged by truckload after truckload of baled petitions being submitted by various groups seeking a spot on November’s ballot. It’s a crowded house these days. Seven initiatives have already been certified for the ballot (or their petitions await certification). Another eight to 10 measures are widely expected to submit petitions in coming days. And four referred measures are already on the statewide ballot. At the least, there will be 15 significant ballot measures before voters when they look at their ballots in a few months. What do I mean by significant? For starters, many of these initiatives are seriously moneyed measures. Several of the proposals will inspire campaigns that spend more on TV and other electioneering than either candidate for the U.S. Senate — Republican Bob Schaffer or Democrat Mark Udall — can possibly bring to his top-tier contest. Some initiative campaigns have already pre-paid for their entire multimillion-dollar TV budgets before their petitions are even certified. So much will be spent on these measures that it is feared that if you don’t buy your TV now, you’ll be frozen out at the end. There won’t be a minute of broadcast time available for initiative advertisers. But it’s more than money that makes this year special in Colorado. http://thehill.com/david-hill/hot-summer-for-colorado-initiatives-2008-07-29.html http://thehill.com/david-hill/hot-summer-for-colorado-initiatives-2008-07-29.html Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:52:00 -0500 The U.S. Constitution has 27 amendments. California's has more than 500. In the past 10 years, Californians have voted on 55 constitutional amendments, and four more are on the November ballot this year. With a state Constitution that can be changed at the ballot box by a simple majority vote, amending the document is often more a political question than a legal one. "We have one of the most unruly constitutions in the world," said Joel Fox, a former aide to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and member of the 1996 California Constitution Revision Commission. "So we make a habit of amending it more often." When backers of Proposition 8, which would bar same-sex marriage, put their measure on the November ballot as a constitutional amendment, opponents complained that such a ban had no place in a document like the state Constitution. Besides Prop. 8, state voters also will decide this fall whether measures on parental notification of abortions (Prop. 4), victims' rights (Prop. 9) and legislative redistricting (Prop. 11) will become part of the voluminous document. But it's hard to say exactly what doesn't belong there, given that the Constitution already contains such minutiae as the unalienable right of Californians to fish on public lands (Article 1, Section 25). http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/25/MNL011V2DR.DTL&type=politics http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/25/MNL011V2DR.DTL&type=politics Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:25:52 -0500 North Dakota is spending roughly a third of the money that it should to discourage tobacco use, say advocates of a ballot initiative that voters are likely to decide in November. The proposal's supporters turned in petitions to Secretary of State Al Jaeger's office on Monday that they said included the signatures of 15,667 North Dakota voters, or 22 percent more than the minimum of 12,844 needed to qualify for a vote. They collected the names in three months. "I think this was an easy measure because so few people said no," said former attorney general Heidi Heitkamp, who is chairwoman of the initiative campaign. "People were just more than willing to sign." The measure would establish a nine-member board that would be put in charge of developing a comprehensive program to discourage smoking, smokeless tobacco chewing and other forms of tobacco use. http://www.in-forum.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D9274VBO6 http://www.in-forum.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D9274VBO6 Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:27:16 -0500 The man flagging down passersby outside the Colorado Convention Center wanted change — not quarters, but a controversial change to the state constitution that would undo part of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights. The petition-wielding House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, the state's third-most powerful politician, manned the walkway Saturday trying to find a pitch to stop DNC volunteers streaming by and convince them to support his ballot initiative. After Gov. Bill Ritter, the teachers union and fellow lawmakers stopped short of fully supporting his initiative, Romanoff launched his own quest for the ballot, personally collecting 1,500 signatures and speaking across the state. The campaign is underfunded and faces both a saturated ballot and a distracted public — but with 90,000 signatures collected and more than a week before the Aug. 4 deadline, analysts say voters will likely see the proposal on the November ballot. http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_10016189 http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_10016189 Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:49:52 -0500 Only one citizen initiative qualified for the November ballot in Montana - I-155, identified in its short title as the Healthy Montana Kids Plan Act. In addition to I-155, there will be two ballot issues referred by the Legislature on the ballot. They are LR-118, identified in its first section as a tax levy for the university system, and C-44, a constitutional amendment affecting the way in which certain public funds are invested. http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/07/23/bnews/br85.txt http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/07/23/bnews/br85.txt Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:29:45 -0500 The leader of the Anti Wolf Coalition in Idaho says he will try again to put a wolf removal initiative on the ballot now that a federal judge has restored endangered species protection for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies. "We are very pleased this liberal judge did what he did," Ron Gillett told the Lewiston Tribune. "Now it will be all-out war." He said restoring federal protection to the wolves will reinvigorate his attempts to put a ballot initiative before Idaho voters. Two previous attempts to put such an initiative before voters failed, the last one falling about 10,000 signatures short of the 45,000 needed by the May 1 deadline. http://www.sltrib.com/outdoors/ci_9970390 http://www.sltrib.com/outdoors/ci_9970390 Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:05:16 -0500 Flushing residents are collecting signatures from passers-by to recall two local politicians—Councilman John Liu (Queens) and New York State Assemblywoman Ellen Young. The Epoch Times interviewed some of the supporters on July 20, 2008. On July 4, a dozen Flushing residents initiated the “committee for recalling John Liu and Ellen Young” for their assisting crimes committed by the pro-communist thugs. More than 50 Chinese people signed to support on July 4. The campaign is co-sponsored by Chairman of China Democracy Party Union Wang Jun; Chairman of Peace Democracy Union of China Tang Baiqiao; a representative of the Korean community, Mr. King; the director of central committee of Liberty Democracy Party of China, Zheng Nan; and others. http://en.epochtimes.com/n2/world/flushing-politicians-recall-1556.html http://en.epochtimes.com/n2/world/flushing-politicians-recall-1556.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:39:16 -0500 Texas billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens has made no secret of his desire to open up the market for natural gas-powered vehicles. The founder of a company that develops natural gas vehicles, Pickens believes he has a foothold in an emerging field of clean energy resources — just as soaring gas prices and carbon emissions are causing many to look for alternatives. He's gotten kudos from environmental leaders for mounting a national campaign to lead the country away from its reliance on foreign oil. But, critics are howling at what they're saying is Pickens' brazen attempt to get California voters to foot the bill for a $5 billion bond measure, Proposition 10, that would expedite natural gas development — and line his already-gilded pockets. Pickens wrote the ballot measure, and his company, Seal Beach-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp., solely bankrolled the $3.25 million drive to get the initiative on November's ballot — and is expected to spend millions more to get it approved by voters. http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_9938040 http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_9938040 Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:44:38 -0500 A measure to name a city sewage plant for President George W. Bush has qualified for the November ballot in San Francisco, officials said. A group calling itself the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco said in June it had collected enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot, and then turned the signatures in to elections officials July 7. The Department of Elections Thursday informed the group it had collected enough valid signatures -- so city voters will be asked in November whether to change the name of the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant to the George W. Bush Sewage Plant, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2008/07/18/SF_ballot_will_get_Bush-sewage_measure/UPI-94481216360467/ http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2008/07/18/SF_ballot_will_get_Bush-sewage_measure/UPI-94481216360467/ Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:10:22 -0500 A union-funded watchdog group has asked the state to investigate whether signatures on initiative petitions circulated by conservative activists were forged. Meanwhile, the conservative activists have gone to federal court to try to force the state to ease or overturn new restrictions. The complaint filed by the watchdog group Our Oregon alleges that at least four signatures, including of Ellen Clay, of Keizer, were forged on current election-cycle petitions. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008063320_initiative21m.html http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008063320_initiative21m.html Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:30:43 -0500 Washington voters will find themselves at the center of a national right-to-die debate this year if Initiative 1000, modeled on Oregon's Death With Dignity law, makes it onto the November ballot. The campaign turned in nearly 320,000 signatures July 2, far more than the 225,000 valid signatures it needs to qualify. Already, out-of-state money is pouring into the campaign to pass the measure, including $315,000 so far from the Death With Dignity National Center, a Portland-based group that seeks to see the Oregon law replicated in other states. So far, the campaign has raised $1,124,000. http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080714/NEWS03/971512377 http://wenatcheeworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080714/NEWS03/971512377 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:34:32 -0500