Ballot measure news
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LOS ANGELES, California: Tax burden from expensive ballot propositions got you down? According to the Center for Governmental Studies (CGS), you should blame the California State Legislature, not the state's ballot initiative process.[1]
"Most of the ballot-box budgeting has come from you." That's what Robert Stern, president of CGS, told the Senate and Assembly Select Committees on Improving State Government in a November hearing in Oakland.
According to a CGS study, of the 68 ballot measures approved between 1988 and 2009 that had a price tag attached to them, 51 were legislatively-referred constitutional amendments or legislatively-referred state statutes. That's 75%.
The legislatively-referred measures cost $9.8 billion versus $2.05 billion for citizen-initiated measures.
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Recall news
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HAMILTON, Montana: A nine-page ruling by Commissioner of Political Practices Dennis Unsworth stated that Jack Vallance violated state campaign finance laws when he flew his airplane with an electronic billboard message that campaigned for the recall of Hamilton city councilor Bob Scott. The ruling stated that the act should yield a civil penalty. According to state law, billboard signs must contain information on who funded the sign.
The recall election was held in 2006, in which Scott retained his seat, with a slim margin of 152-150. The recall was the result of accusations that Scott implement “playground antics” that hurt the city and residents, including submitting a $152 travel expense reimburesment two years prior to that. [1]
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Ballot law news
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OLYMPIA, Washington: Thurston County Superior Court Judge Richard Hicks announced on Friday that he will wait for the United States Supreme Court ruling on the Referendum 71 privacy case before moving forward with Tim Eyman's lawsuit to block the release of petition signatures. “Let’s find out what the U.S. Supreme Court is going to do. Then this can go forward,” Hicks said from the bench. “I’m very much in favor of openness, but I also believe in privacy and constitutional rights...I want to do the right thing. I don’t want to do a lot of work for nothing that turns out to be superseded by what a higher court does," said Judge Hicks.[1]
Tim Eyman filed his lawsuit after debate began regarding to the release of R-71's petition signatures. The lawsuit requests blocking the release of petition signatures relating to approximately 11 initiatives (including this years I-1033).[2]
The 11 initiatives mentioned in the lawsuit include:[3]
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