Newswire
California’s cash-strapped state government would be virtually wallowing in piles of cash if a proposed wealth tax makes it to the ballot, is approved by voters and survives the usual lawsuits. Critics claim the proposal would be found to be unconstitutional.
At an impasse with lawmakers over a sales tax referral, Gov. Jan Brewer is now looking to supporters to take the issue to the ballot themselves ”” even if that delays the levy more than a year. Brewer said Friday she understands that legislators, having wrestled with the budget now for months, are in little mood to come back again in yet another a special session this year to try to once again craft a plan that would boost state revenues to make up some of the gap between spending and income.
Republican lawmakers are lining up against a citizens’ initiative effort to impose new, stringent ethics guidelines on the Utah Legislature. Senate leaders said Wednesday that they have serious concerns about the ethics drive, fearing it could deter qualified people from serving in the Legislature out of fear of falling victim to ethics complaints. “If there are people out there who have political intentions they will use this as a club time and time again,” said Senate Majority Leader Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse.
The Walnut Creek City Council voted Tuesday to repeal its May approvals of the Broadway Plaza expansion project ”” set to house a Neiman Marcus store. This means the fate of the planned downtown Neiman store is in the hands of voters when they cast ballots Nov. 3 on Measure I. The council had little choice after a judge on Sept. 1 ordered the council to either place the referendums on the same ballot as Measure I or repeal their approvals. The referendums were based on the council’s approval in May of the Neiman Marcus project.
Of the three issues on ballots across Ohio this November, one has motivated farmers and farm groups to action. Issue 2 is a proposed state constitutional amendment which would establish a state board to govern the care standards of livestock raised in the Buckeye State. Tuesday night at the annual meeting of the Van Wert County Farm Bureau, that issue was a major topic of discussion.
The Missouri Roundtable for Life, an anti-abortion group, has filed another ballot proposal in an attempt to block public funding for a type of stem-cell research it considers cloning. The effort follows the roundtable’s earlier attempts at putting a ballot initiative before voters, including one that prompted the group to sue Secretary of State Robin Carnahan over ballot language.
The ASUM Senate will discuss Wednesday whether it supports a possible 2010 state ballot initiative that would redefine “person” in the due process clause. ASUM Senator Patrick Rhea and Students for Choice campus organizer Daniel Viehland co-wrote the resolution, which centers on student concerns regarding the impact of what Rhea and Viehland consider vague wording in the initiative.
A group seeking to roll back Petaluma’s sewer rates has gathered enough signatures for the issue to be placed on a future election ballot. The county elections office certified that Petalumans for Fair Utility Rates, which sponsored a similar initiative last year, gathered 1,169 sufficient signatures from Petaluma voters. The group, led by retired pilot Jim Fitzgerald and former councilman Bryant Moynihan, needed 1,093 signatures and submitted a total of 1,579.
The effort to recall Knox County School Board member Bill Phillips is tabled for now, as the election commission has questions about the wording of the potential ballot item. Administrator of Elections Greg Mackay had a question about the wording of the petition, so the election commission called the state election office to ask about the wording.
Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi filed suit Monday seeking to undo controversial requirements imposed almost three years ago that make it harder to bring voter ballot initiatives in a move that — if successful — could pave the way for a recall effort of embattled Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez. The suit, filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, comes a day after a Miami Herald/CBS 4 poll found 58 percent of registered voters favor the recall of Alvarez.