Munger challenging new law on initiatives' ballot spots
What's in a number? For one thing, it governs the order in which a California voter reads ballot measures.
Wealthy civil rights lawyer Molly Munger is none too happy about recent legislation, given that it changes how those proposals get numbered.
In past elections, ballot initiatives have appeared in the order they qualified, after bonds and measures placed there by the Legislature.
But a bill rushed through by lawmakers tweaked the old rules to catapult Gov. Jerry Brown's own tax increase measure to the top, followed by another constitutional amendment to change the budget process.
And in ballot-measure science, the top is considered, well, tops, especially on a crowded ballot such as November's.
Under the old rules, Brown's plan would have been buried near the bottom of the ballot with rival tax-increase plans from Munger and billionaire Tom Steyer.
Munger could get the last word.
Munger officially got help last week from the anti-tax Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association in challenging the move. Stay tuned. Her lawsuit is up for a hearing in Sacramento Superior Court at 9 a.m. today.
<;MX| ><;MX| >BALLOT WATCH
The secretary of state's office is inviting Californians to submit arguments for and against the 11 measures on the Nov. 6 ballot, to be considered for the state's voter guide. Arguments may be hand-delivered to 1500 11th St., fifth floor, Sacramento, or faxed to (916) 653-3214. The deadline comes soon – at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
<;MX| >WORTH REPEATING
"We aren't usurping anything. It's a states' rights issue."
ASSEMBLYMAN TOM AMMIANO, D-San Francisco, talking to the Contra Costa Times about his Assembly Bill 1081, an "anti-Arizona" measure telling police to refer only those illegal immigrants convicted of serious felonies to immigration officials. The Senate passed the bill, 21-13, last week. It now goes back to the Assembly for concurrence on amendments.
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