Ten initiatives makes the November ballot

June 25, 2010

Ten statewide measures have officially qualified for California’s November election. [Capitol Weekly]

The deadline was Thursday and more than half of the ballot measures, requiring sufficient signatures from voters, qualified at the last minute.

Get ready to rumble, experts warn. Millions of dollars will be spent by lobbyists and consumer groups in the next four months.

Initiatives that qualified included a measure legalizing marijuana, a prohibition on the state taking funds intended for local transportation projects, a proposal to levy an $18 annual vehicle fee to pay for state parks and a business-backed initiative that would suspend the state’s law curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

Other measures voters will get to vote on include limiting the ability of businesses to carry back operating losses and use the so-called single sales factor to calculate tax liability.

Another proposed initiative allows state budgets to be approved with a simple-majority vote of each house of the Legislature. However,  a rival initiative, backed by business interests and anti-tax groups, would redefine many fees as taxes and require a two-thirds vote for passage.

There is a second set of conflicting initiatives addressing the independent commission set up two years ago to draw new state legislative districts. One would extend the commission’s powers to include Congressional districts. The second proposed measure aims to abolish the commission.

A 10th initiative, placed on the ballot by the Legislature, calls for an $11 billion water projects bond.