Alaska
Today, the group Alaskans for Bristol Bay announced that it has gathered enough signatures for a local ballot measure that the group says could put the brakes on the proposed Pebble Mine. The move would put an inititative on the Lake and Peninsula Borough’s ballot in October.
Lake and Peninsula Borough citizens filed an application to have the Save our Salmon Initiative to appear on the next municipal election ballot, according to a press release. The Initiative, sponsored by 24 Lake and Peninsula Borough residents, will prohibit any large-scale resource extraction activity, including mining, if that activity could destroy or degrade salmon waters.
Alaska voters will decide in 2012 whether local governments can give homeowners a bigger tax break by increasing property-tax exemptions. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported the initiative sponsored by Fairbanks North Star Borough Assemblywoman Nadine Winters has been approved by the state and will appear on the ballot during the next primary election.
Alaska Attorney General John Burns, and his predecessor, Attorney General Dan Sullivan, have each rejected anti-abortion ballot measures submitted by Anchorage’s Clinton Desjarlais. Now, the anti-abortion activist says he intends to go to court to get a measure on the ballot to ban abortion and stop the government-sanctioned taking of human life.
Alaska voters will decide in 2012 whether local governments can increase property tax exemptions. An initiative that started locally has been recently approved by the state and will appear on the ballot during the next primary election. The proposition would allow cities or boroughs to give homeowners a bigger tax break.
A controversial issue from the August primary ballot made its way into court Friday. Ballet Measure 2, which passed, and is now the parental notification law, would require minors under the age of 18 to notify a parent or guardian before getting an abortion.
After blogging yesterday about traffic enforcement cameras in Ohio, a reader pointed me to this excellent breakdown of red-light and speed camera votes around the country from TheNewspaper.com. According to the article, the cameras have never survived a public vote: they usually lose by margins of two-to-one.
Among the five additional communities to ban cameras is Houston, Texas - America’s fourth largest city:
Last week Citizens in Charge Foundation - a partner organization to Citizens in Charge - sent a letter to Secretaries of State and Attorneys General in 12 states asking them to stop enforcing unconstitutional restrictions on ballot initiative rights. In light of recent legal action in which Kansas officials agreed with petition advocates that the state’s law against petition circulators from other states was unconstitutional, Foundation President Paul Jacob asked officials to “do the right thing” and stop enforcing similar
Fairbanks Borough voters face two propositions on Tuesday’s municipal election ballot. Proposition A would prevent the borough from banning, or fining residents for using polluting heating devices. It’s aimed at an air quality ordinance passed by the assembly in June that includes nominal pollution fines, and a ban on purchase and installation of non Environmental Protection Agency approved wood stoves and boilers. The borough is trying to get into compliance with E.P.A.
Alaskans on Tuesday approved a controversial voter initiative requiring parents to be notified before their teen age 17 and younger receives an abortion. Ballot Measure 2 was one of the most fiercely contested items in the primary election, with total spending by both sides combined nearing $1 million. Tuesday’s vote marks the first time Alaska voters confronted the abortion issue at the polls.
Alaska voters will decide Tuesday whether a parent or guardian must be notified if a pregnant girl under 18 seeks an abortion. A second ballot measure seeks to ban municipal governments and school districts from spending public money to lobby.
The group behind Ballot Measure 1, Clean Team Alaska, and one of its largest financial backers have been fined by the Alaska Public Offices Commission. Ballot Measure 1 is an initiative that would prohibit the use of public funds to lobby or campaign, and also prohibit holders of government contracts and family members from making political contributions. Clean Team Alaska closed its doors in June, after Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell changed the language of the ballot initiative.
In Alaska, a state that has had more than its share of political scandals, it’s no surprise that an initiative aimed at cleaning up government made it onto the ballot this year. What’s surprising is how many respected groups have lined up against it. Opponents of Proposition 1 include the AARP, the Alaska Municipal League and associations of police and firefighters. Both the state chamber of commerce and the AFL-CIO agree that the measure shouldn’t pass.
Supporters of an initiative to ban the use of public money for lobbying or campaigning acknowledge that Alaska regulators were requiring more financial disclosure before supporters withdrew. The main group in support of the initiative did not want to disclose its contributors. Last week, Clean Team Alaska suspended its campaign to get voters to approve the proposed law on the August statewide ballot. The group accused state executives of trying to sink the measure by inappropriately tinkering with the summary language that voters would see.
According to the Juneau Empire on Sunday, Gov. Sean Parnell has signed off on House Bill 36, which sets new financial disclosure requirements for ballot initiative campaigns and gives new duties concerning initiatives to the lieutenant governor’s office.