Ballot labels on two measures in the May 19 special election were altered Thursday after complaints that the Legislature's wording was misleading and biased in favor of their passage.
The labels are seen as critical because voters often rely on them as their sole source of information.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny reworded part of the label for Proposition 1A, which would impose a state spending restriction and extend tax increases lawmakers approved as part of the budget deal last month.
The original ballot label made no mention of the tax increase extensions and portrayed the spending cap as a "reform" that would limit "overspending." The wording drew a lawsuit from strange bedfellows – an anti-tax group that opposes the tax extension and Health Access, a health care advocacy group that opposes the spending cap.
But Kenny's ruling did not order that the tax increase extension be added to the label, noting that an accompanying "fiscal analysis" sufficiently tells voters that tax revenues will increase. His order did remove the words "reform" and "overspending" and clarify that the spending cap "could" limit future deficits.
Meanwhile, opponents of Proposition 1E dropped their lawsuit over the ballot summary for that measure, which would dip into mental health program funds to help solve the state budget's crisis.
A spokesman for the opposition said they worked out an agreement with the secretary of state's office to change what they viewed as the ballot summary's misleading language.
Proposition 1E's ballot summary now says the measure will help balance the state's budget but also divert $230 million annually for two years to achieve that outcome.
The settlement removes language, dictated by the Legislature, that suggested the measure would "preserve funding for children's mental health services." The proposition would tap into the 1 percent millionaire's tax that California voters approved through Proposition 63 in 2004 to fund mental health programs.
– Bee staff
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