Initiative News

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

I have a bunch of things that might have been more appropriate for Quick Hits, but rather than flooding the Quick Hits Section, I'll do it here. So, here we go:

  • Ted Gullickson of the SF Tenants' Union, along with similar groups from across the state, has started a new blog, Oppose the Landlord Scheme, to, um, oppose the landlord scheme. Go check it out. Ted and the SFTU are always hard at work to protect and further the rights and interests of tenants.


  • You will soon be seeing signature gatherers for, yet another, parental notification measure.  The last two went down, with Prop 85 (45.8% Yes) garnering an even lower share than Prop 73 (47.2%) did before it. Each version has its own slightly different kicker. This one would require doctors to notify the authorities of children who can't, for whatever reason, tell their parents of the pregnancy. If they don't, they can be prosecuted.  Can you imagine the consequences of that? Apparently the drafters of the initiative didn't bother to think about the actual effects of this law from within their bubble (Great Prop 85 ad).

  • The referenda on the Indian Gaming Compacts have qualified. They will be Props 94 (Pechanga), 95 (Morongo), 96 (Sycuan), and 97 (Agua Caliente). There was a little bit of a debate about these during the E-Board in Anaheim. UNITE-HERE is gearing up to fight these.

  • Asm. Chuck DeVore of Orange County has withdrawn his initiative to relax the rules for building nuclear power plants. Shockingly enough, he couldn't get the signatures. This initiative would have gone down in flames, so I imagine even power companies wouldn't want to touch it with a ten-foot pole.