Ballot ruling may hurt Brown initiative

03 February 2011 |permalink | email article

A little noticed decision last week from the 3rd District Court of Appeal that eliminates the Legislature’s ability to dictate how statewide ballot initiatives are presented to voters may hurt Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget plan. It includes a proposed ballot initiative in June asking voters to extend a state sales tax and an income tax.

The court said the Legislature’s practice of deciding the label, title and summary of ballot initiatives violates the Political Reform Act of 1974, which, along with other statutes, requires the attorney general to prepare an impartial title and official summary of all ballot initiatives.

The Legislature asserted that the reference to the attorney general was “merely descriptive and explanatory,”and did not convey to voters that only the attorney general can lawfully prepare the official ballot summary – an argument the court rejected. Ironically, the attorney general’s office under Brown supported the Legislature’s contention in court. 

The ruling in Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association v. Debra Bowen centers on a 2008 ballot measure seeking voter approval to pay for high-speed rail.The new ruling represents a major victory for the prominent anti-tax group.

“The ruling is a big deal,” Jessica Levinson, director of political reform at the nonpartisan Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles, told the Daily Journal. ”The way the ballot name and summary is phrased has an enormous impact on how people are going to vote… What the Legislature has been doing has been trying to sell their ballot measures instead of just describing them,” The court’s decision “will have an immediate impact on Brown’s proposals to increase the temporary tax extensions,” Levinson added.

What they said

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, President Reagan’s Solicitor General Charles Fried said that even though he believes that there are lots of problems with the Affordable Care Act, he’s “quite sure that the health care mandate is constitutional. In his opening statement he said that the commerce clause of the Constitution gives Congress the power to regulate. “To my mind, that is the end of the story.”

The man once known as Governor Moonbeam sounded more like Governor Laser Beam when it came to addressing the state’s financial crisis. Obama waited until minute 35 to mention the nation’s “mountain of debt.” Brown began with the state’s dire financial situation and stuck with it. – Ruth Marcus in the Washington Post.

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