Special Election Could Include Measures To Restrict Abortion Rights, Repeal Measure To Fund Mental Health Services
The San Francisco Chronicle on Monday looked at potential measures that could appear on the ballot of a special statewide election, including initiatives -- such as ones to reform abortion laws and repeal a measure to fund mental health services -- that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) would "rather ignore." The secretary of state's office in January received a record 63 proposed initiatives, none of which have qualified yet for the next statewide ballot. Supporters of most of the initiatives would not be able to begin gathering signatures until early March, when Schwarzenegger is expected to decide whether he will call for a special election in 2005.
According to the Bee, a measure that would require parental notification before minors can receive abortions is one of a series of initiatives proposed by social conservatives that "the governor doesn't want to fight." The Bee reports that such a measure "would bring out voters on both sides of [the] state's continuing battle over a woman's right to abortion." Albin Rhomberg, a Sacramento resident who is helping to organize the effort backing the initiative, said the campaign hopes to submit as many as one million signatures by the April 14 deadline.
Lewis Uhler of the National Tax Limitation Committee has filed an initiative that would repeal Proposition 63, a measure approved on the November 2004 statewide ballot that would fund mental health services through a 1% increase in the state personal income tax on residents whose annual incomes exceed $1 million. Uhler said his group submitted the measure "as a permanent offensive" that reflects "what we see as good" (Wildermuth, San Francisco Chronicle, 2/7).
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