Initiatives on the Special Election Ballot? Let’s Read the Constitution
Is there time to qualify initiatives for the special election the governor plans to call? The special election in 2009 will deal with the rainy-day budget plan and the lottery lease that were part of the budget deal. But, what else might be on the special election ballot?
The governor indicated a special election in March may be too early. So attention is focused on June 2.
The constitution says that initiatives must be qualified 131 days before an election. If the election were called for June 2, that would make the qualification date about January 23.
But there is a legitimate question if that 131 day requirement applies to a special election. Here’s Article 2, Section 8, Paragraph C of the state constitution dealing with initiatives:
The Secretary of State shall then submit the measure at the
next general election held at least 131 days after it qualifies or at
any special statewide election held prior to that general election.
The Governor may call a special statewide election for the measure.
Odds and Ends – September 23, 2008
A few Odds and Ends from the past week:
- Congressman Darrell Issa comments on the proposed Federal Bailout of Wall Street at FlashReport
- In a brief but particularly interesting quote, Senator Hillary Clinton appears to have called for a second coming of the New Deal in response to the current financial crunch in an interview with CBS New York.
- A new clean-air energy technology that’s been in the works for years has seen a successful debut, as Germany fired up the world’s first Clean Coal power plant this week.
- New University of California President Mark Yudof has wasted little time in determining the state of the UC system. The University recently released its ‘accountability framework’, a compilation of statistics relating to all UC campuses intended to provide a better understanding of the University as a whole. An article in today’s San Jose Mercury summarizes some of what the report found.
Taxpayers: Victims of the Obama Factor?
The November election could see Californians confronted with a
record number of local tax hike measures. Despite the fact the
economy is in the doldrums and people are struggling to pay for gas,
food, housing, this hasn’t slowed down local politicians making
major new demands on taxpayers’ wallets.
The big push for higher local taxing has come about at the advice of
political consultants, who have been telling officials that Barack
Obama is the key to tax riches. Their polls and focus groups
indicate that enthusiasm for Obama in California will generate an
abnormally large turnout of young and lower income voters, voters
who tend to vote for tax hikes because, rightly or wrongly, they
believe they will not be impacted by the increased levies.
So politicians, with dreams of higher revenues dancing through their
heads, are taking full advantage of the opportunities that
Obamamania offers. For example, if you live in the city of Los
Angeles you will be asked to approve a property parcel tax for
anti-gang programs, two huge multi-billion dollar bonds for the
community college system and the LAUSD as well as a half cent sales
tax for transportation. Los Angeles County residents, in addition to
the sales tax increase, face paying more to use wireless phone
service.