Author: Ryan Byrne
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Signatures filed for California ballot initiative to fund stem cell research institute
On May 5, 2020, the campaign Californians for Stem Cell Research, Treatments & Cures filed signatures for a ballot initiative to issue $5.5 billion in general obligation bonds for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). CIRM was created in 2004 when voters approved Proposition 71 and funded with $3.00 billion in bond revenue. As…
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Signatures filed for ballot initiative to expand California’s Consumer Privacy Act
On May 4, 2020, the campaign Californians for Consumer Privacy reported filing more than 900,000 signatures for a ballot initiative to expand the provisions of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which was passed in 2018. At least 623,212 of the signatures need to be valid to qualify for the ballot. As the suggested deadline…
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Campaign behind ballot initiative to increase California’s medical damages cap decides to aim for 2022 ballot due to coronavirus pandemic
On April 30, 2020, the campaign behind a ballot initiative to increase California’s medical damages cap announced that 988,000 signatures had been collected. At least 623,212 of those signatures need to be valid. However, proponents have decided to hold off on submitting the signatures until after the deadline for 2020. Consumer Watchdog president Jamie Court,…
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Voters in Ohio’s four largest cities decided tax measures, bond issues, and charter amendments on April 28
Voters in Ohio’s four largest cities decided eight local ballot measures on April 28, 2020. The election used mail-in absentee ballots, with disabled voters and those without a home address allowed to vote in-person at vote centers. Mail-in ballots needed to be postmarked by April 27 and will be counted if received by May 8.…
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Voters in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, approve property tax increase to fund health and human services
On Tuesday, voters in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, approved the Issue 33 ballot measure, which increased the county’s property tax to provide funding for health and human or social services. Under Issue 33, the property tax is increased from $390 to $470 per $100,000 of assessed property value. In Ohio, assessed property value for taxation is…
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California to vote on realtors-backed property tax transfers and exemptions initiative in November
On April 23, 2020, the office of Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced that a random sample of signatures projected that enough were valid for the California Association of Realtors’ (CAR) initiated constitutional amendment to appear on the ballot for November 3, 2020. Some of the ballot initiative’s provisions are similar to CAR’s 2018 ballot…
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Signatures filed for California ballot initiative related to dialysis clinic requirements
Californians could vote on a ballot initiative related to dialysis clinics for the second general election in a row. In 2018, 59.9 percent of voters rejected a proposal, titled Proposition 8, to require dialysis clinics to issue refunds to patients or patients’ payers for profits above a defined threshold. The SEIU-UHW West, a labor union…
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New Yorkers will vote on a $3 billion bond issue designed to address environment and climate change issues in November
On April 3, 2020, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed budget legislation for fiscal year 2020-2021, which included a provision for a $3 billion bond issue that voters will decide on November 3, 2020. Gov. Cuomo proposed the bond issue during his State of the State Address on January 8, 2020. The legislation for the…
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About 1.7 million signatures filed for second version of California split roll tax initiative
On April 2, 2020, the campaign Schools and Communities First reported filing 1.7 million signatures for a ballot initiative to require commercial and industrial properties, except those zoned as commercial agriculture, to be taxed based on their market value, rather than their purchase price. At least 997,139 signatures need to be valid. The ballot initiative…
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Arizona ballot initiative campaigns ask state Supreme Court to allow electronic signatures due to coronavirus pandemic
On April 2, 2020, four ballot initiative campaigns filed a petition asking the Arizona Supreme Court to allow the campaigns to gather signatures through E-Qual, which is the state’s online signature collection platform, during the coronavirus pandemic. E-Qual is available for federal, statewide, and legislative candidates but not ballot initiatives. The legal petition stated, “The…