HOLLISTER
County supervisors Tuesday are set to consider a letter to the state demanding it fund a proposed May special election that became necessary due to the late budget approval.
Increases in the state sales tax, personal income tax and vehicle license fee are tied to a measure on the May 19 special-election ballot that would establish a rainy day fund and limit increases in spending. If voters approve the spending cap, the taxes would be extended for up to two additional years, according to the Associated Press (see the full story below).
County Administrative Office Susan Thompson told the Free Lance that the state had no money set aside in the adopted budget and counties are left to fund the required election.
For San Benito County, it would cost $200,000 from the general fund.
“That’s what’s got everybody excited and rightfully so,” Thompson said.
The letter to the state would “demand” that it pay for the election, she said.
The board meeting is set for 9 a.m. Tuesday at the County Administration Building, 481 Fourth St.
Editor’s note: The following is an A.P. story on the special election.
Schwarzenegger starts campaign for ballot measures
By JULIET WILLIAMS – ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SACRAMENTO
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a bipartisan group of lawmakers are wasting no time rallying support for a slate of special-election ballot measures they say will stabilize the state’s finances, even as they ask Californians to pay higher taxes in exchange for the safety net.
During a news conference Thursday to kick off the campaign for the six initiatives, Schwarzenegger said he believes voters will see past the higher costs. He said the taxes and fee increases will protect the programs they care about.
“People will vote yes on stability in education, stability in prisons, stability in law enforcement and stability in health care and all of those things,” the Republican governor said.
“I think the people know that you can’t continue with one year having the money and the next year not having the money, or in a state of bankruptcy. I think the people know that the state has been suffering because of that, and for a long time.”
Increases in the state sales tax, personal income tax and vehicle license fee are tied to a measure on the May 19 special-election ballot that would establish a rainy day fund and limit increases in spending. If voters approve the spending cap, the taxes would be extended for up to two additional years.
The other measures would protect education funding after the rainy day fund is set up, authorize borrowing $5 billion from future lottery sales to balance the current budget, transfer money from some social programs to others and prohibit pay raises for the Legislature and governor when the state falls into a deficit.
The Republican governor and leaders from both political parties agreed to the six ballot measures after months of negotiations over how to solve the state’s $42 billion budget deficit. The package passed the Legislature last week after marathon sessions that involved last-minute horse-trading to secure the votes of three Republicans in each house.
If voters reject any of the financing measures, lawmakers would have to find ways to fill the gap.
The language of Proposition 1A, the spending cap and rainy day fund, does not mention the associated tax increases. Neither did the information packet handed out during the governor’s news conference, which proclaimed: “Proposition 1A protects us from higher taxes and protects vital services.”
Schwarzenegger appeared with Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, former Senate minority leader Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, a California business leader, construction workers and two county sheriffs.
“It’s only common sense that when times are good and you have some money that you put some back for those times that you know will be lean and when you’ll need those reserves. That’s the goal of these reforms,” said Cogdill, who helped negotiate the compromise budget but was ousted as minority leader because of his support for $12.8 billion in tax increases included in the budget deal.
The initiatives were carefully crafted in an effort to mute potential opposition from well-funded interest groups. So far, no organized opposition has emerged.
The California Teachers Association is expected to campaign for the education initiative but was not part of the coalition unveiled Thursday.
In 2005, the teachers union and other interest groups spent millions of dollars to defeat Schwarzenegger’s slate of reforms during the last statewide special election. That year, voters defeated all eight propositions on the ballot, including four championed by Schwarzenegger.
The anti-tax Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association opposes Proposition 1A because of the temporary tax increases and what its president, Jon Coupal, has called weak language setting up the spending cap.
Presumptive GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman came out against that measure last weekend at the California Republican Party convention but has not taken a position on the others. Her rival, state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, also criticized the tax increases in the budget package but has not yet taken a position on any of the ballot measures, said his spokesman, Kevin Spillane.
Schwarzenegger said Whitman might have a different view if she were in his shoes.
“If she is governor, she would want to have something like this in place so she doesn’t have to deal with the things we’re dealing with,” he said. “Every Republican governor in the last few decades has had to go for a tax increase … not because that’s what we want to do, but because we were forced into it because of a terrible budget system that is in place in California.”
