Foster Care

This is why the rule of thumb is that you need to get nearly twice the required number of valid signatures to make sure your measure is on the ballot. Sponsors of an Arkansas initiative to prevent gays from adopting or serving as foster parents collected a little bit more than 61,000 signatures required. But a good validity rate in signature gathering is 70 percent, so it's highly likely they don't have enough signatures to qualify. The Associated Press reports that the initiative's backers are already preparing to try again with a similar measure.

Los Angeles Times columnist/legend George Skelton has an excellent piece this morning on Karen Bass, the Assembly speaker. Most of the discussion is about Bass' effort to put together a tax reform commission. The good news is that she's pushing it. The bad news is that "the boys" -- the governor and other legislative leaders -- are holding it up until after the budget is finished. And that means a delay until next year at the earliest. Yes, the legislature may pass a budget in August or September, but voters likely will have to sign on to elements of it in November. If voters balk, we could be redoing the budget at Christmastime.

For followers of blockbuster democracy, the most interesting part of the column comes near the end, where Skelton quotes Bass on her plans to sponsor a $300 million ballot initiative in 2010 to fund foster care programs. She's decided on a funding source for the money; a tax on candy. Skelton's only mistake is not getting an answer to the next question: What does she consider candy? Certainly nothing made by See's, with its headquarters here in Los Angeles.

NEW SPEAKER MAKES BALLOT INITIATIVE A PRIORITY: Here's another example of how thoroughly California has become a blockbuster democracy: the state's new Assembly Speaker, the formidable Karen Bass, has announced three priorities for her time as speaker. One is a ballot initiative to set aside funding for foster care. That's right, the speaker of the assembly, with considerable power, must look to the voters for a budget item. And her other two priorities -- balancing the budget and reforming the tax system -- almost certainly would require voters to sign off on constitutional changes at the ballot. 

ARIZONA TRANSPORTATION: A $42 billion transportation tax initiative is expected to be filed in Arizona this week. And The Republic has a preview.

LEAGUE OF CITIES INVESTMENT: The California League of Cities has now put more than $4 million into its no on Prop 98/ Yes on Prop 99 campaign on eminent domain. The campaign's goal, which includes the counter measure Prop 99, is to stop an effort by property rights and taxpayer groups to limit municipalities' ability to take property. Hat tip, Election Track.