|
Los Angeles Times
November 28, 2005
By Jordan Rau
SACRAMENTO--Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may
have forsaken ballot initiatives for the near future, but
lawmakers and advocacy groups are moving forward with new
proposals to raise taxes on cigarettes and the wealthy, keep
sex offenders off the streets, increase spending on preschools
and healthcare and forever ban same-sex marriage.
Schwarzenegger interpreted the rejection of
all eight measures in this month's special election as a sign
that California voters want lawmakers to solve the state's
problems by themselves. But advocates from across the political
spectrum--including several Republican state legislators--say
they are preparing initiatives for next year either to override
the Democratic-led Legislature or break through the Capitol's
partisan paralysis.
Actor and director Rob Reiner has collected
more than 1 million signatures for a proposition that would
increase taxes on the wealthy to pay for universal preschool.
If validated by elections officials, the names would be more
than enough to place the measure on the June primary ballot.
"We're building a very broad coalition
and we're going about this in a very responsible way and we're
not trying to shove something down people's throats by fiat,"
Reiner said, contrasting his proposal with the ones Schwarzenegger
and his allies devised this year.
Meanwhile, two groups are gathering signatures
for competing initiatives that would raise the state's cigarette
tax by $1.50 a pack, to $2.37. That would be higher than in
any other state except Rhode Island ($2.46) and New Jersey
($2.40), according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids,
an advocacy group in Washington, D.C. A spokesman for Philip
Morris USA said such an increase in California would be excessive.
But the potential revenue from such a tax--about
$1.5 billion a year--is being eyed.
One group, led by California's hospital association,
wants to give the money to emergency rooms, many of which
are having financial difficulties because they treat so many
uninsured patients. This would be the second time hospitals
have asked voters to raise money for emergency rooms: A failed
2004 initiative would have increased fees on cellphones.
In response, a coalition of health advocates,
including the American Cancer Society, American Heart Assn.
and American Lung Assn. of California, announced an initiative
to raise the cigarette tax to pay for cancer research and
provide healthcare to all children in California who don't
have insurance.
Paul Knepprath, a vice president at the lung
association, said his coalition tried to negotiate a joint
initiative with the hospitals, one "that could balance
the needs of the kinds of programs that they care about."
"Unfortunately, we weren't able to get
to an agreement," Knepprath said. "They felt the
need to do their own measure."
Dr. Jack Lewin, chief executive of the California
Medical Assn., decried the dueling initiatives, which he said
would make it easier for opponents, including the tobacco
industry, to fight both.
"This is really a debacle of lack of
cooperation and coordination," Lewin said. "This
should be doctors and hospitals and patients and emergency
personnel all together on something. Instead, it's going
to be a big battle."
Kristine Deutschman, spokeswoman for the emergency
room measure, said: "We really don't see it as competing
measures. We see it as differences in priorities."
Public safety is another popular subject for
potential initiatives in 2006. Republican legislators are
pushing three tough-on-crime measures that Democratic lawmakers
have nixed.
The only elected husband-wife couple in the
Capitol, Lancaster Republican Assemblywoman Sharon Runner
and her husband, George, a state senator, are backing an initiative
that would allow convicted sex offenders to be confined indefinitely,
even after they completed their sentences.
The proposal failed as legislation this year,
and Schwarzenegger has said he would support the initiative
if lawmakers do not adopt it themselves. Dave Gilliard, a
Sacramento consultant running the campaign, said they have
raised more than $1 million, including donations of at least
$125,000 from each of the Runners.
Financing for two other lawmaker-sponsored
initiatives is not as clear.
Assemblyman Ray Haynes (R-Murrieta) wants
to create a state border patrol to combat illegal immigration.
Sen. Chuck Poochigian (R-Fresno) is pressing an initiative
that would expand the types of activities that qualify as
identity theft, bolster investigations and increase punishments.
If Poochigian's measure qualifies, it would
be on the ballot at the time he would be campaigning for the
office of attorney general, potentially giving him a natural
platform. Candidates in the past, including Jerry Brown in
his 1974 run for governor and John Van de Kamp in his failed
1990 bid for governor, employed that tactic.
Schwarzenegger and Democratic leaders also
hope to place on the ballot a gigantic public works project
bond to repair the state's sagging infrastructure. The measure
would probably be the largest in California history--totaling
in the tens of billions of dollars--and could lead lawmakers
to put off for the second time a $10-billion bond for a high-speed
rail line that is slated for the November general election.
A $600-million library improvement bond initiative scheduled
for the June primary is less likely to be affected.
Some of this year's bitter conflicts in Sacramento
are likely to spill over onto next year's ballot. Gay rights
opponents are preparing measures that would outlaw same-sex
nuptials through California's Constitution. (They have drafted
10 versions so far.) The groups are still furious that the
Legislature approved a same-sex marriage bill in August, only
to see it vetoed by Schwarzenegger; their measure, if approved,
would prevent subsequent legislators from changing the law.
Empowered by victories in the special election
fight, labor unions are also contemplating two measures inspired
by events this year. One would raise California's $6.75-an-hour
minimum wage, a change Schwarzenegger has twice vetoed.
The second initiative would be payback to
the business community and the Republican Party, which supported
this year's failed Proposition 75 to restrict public employee
unions' political might. The new proposition that labor has
threatened returns the favor: It would require corporations
to get the approval of shareholders each year before spending
company money on California political campaigns. Labor has
yet to submit a draft to state officials, which is required
before backers can begin collecting signatures.
Just as it is unclear how many of these proposals
will actually make the ballot, it is also murky what kind
of reception the electorate will give them.
Supporters, as well as some independent analysts,
do not believe that the electorate is tired of voting on propositions,
even though every one on the Nov. 8 ballot was rejected.
"The voters viewed the special election
as the governor sending them unfinished business," said
Mark Baldassare, research director at the Public Policy Institute
of California, a San Francisco nonpartisan group. "They
still want to look and listen to ideas that come from independent
sources."
David Townsend, a Democratic consultant working
on the children's health insurance tobacco tax measure, said
voters turned out in the special election in relatively high
numbers, given that there were no candidates on ballots in
most of the state.
"The fundamental problem with the
Schwarzenegger package was it was not relevant to voters,"
he said. "The voters definitely want to vote on major
issues, but they don't want to be bothered with minor stuff
that ought to be solved in the Legislature. They weren't
fatigued; they were angry."
|
