Ballot Measures

There are more than 350 local measures across California on the Nov. 6 ballot. Among them: • El Monte and Richmond would levy a "soda tax" on sugared beverages. • Arcata proposes a 45% tax on excessive electricity usage, aimed at marijuana "grow houses. " • The desert town of Needles would impose a 10% tax on marijuana sales. • To combat loitering by the homeless, Berkeley would ban sitting on sidewalks in commercial areas from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. • The Davis Joint Unified School District wants voters to renew a $204 parcel tax and add one for $242 if Gov. Jerry Brown's statewide tax initiative fails, to make up for loss of state funds.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Proponents of fluoridating Portland's water supply had no trouble getting the local Urban League on board. Here in the biggest city in the country that still doesn't treat its water to prevent tooth decay, studies show that low-income children and kids of color have been hit hardest by untreated cavities. "Do we really want our children to be suffering from something we could prevent? Why would we not want to be involved?" said Jerome Brooks, an Urban League advocacy contractor who has helped marshal the civil rights group behind a fluoridation measure on Tuesday's municipal ballot.

Eight years ago, California was the world's fifth-largest economy and surging. Today, we're the eighth largest and falling. What has caused this decline? Simply put, California is being held hostage by partisan gridlock and a state Constitution that is the third longest in the world. The solution is straightforward: Make fundamental changes to our Constitution to streamline government so that California can compete more effectively. Let's face it -- government reform is not a sexy issue.

WASHINGTON -- An often-heard criticism of American politics is that lawmakers listen only to the views of their wealthy constituents, not to the poor. The recent vote in Congress to exempt the air traffic control system from across-the-board budget cuts -- a move that primarily benefited fliers, who tend to be more affluent than the average American -- provided a case in point. But was that vote typical of the system overall or a special case? New research that directly compares lawmakers' votes with the positions taken by their constituents challenges the view that the voices of the wealthy consistently drown out those of the poor.

Top 5 total contributions to California ballot measures for November 2012 No on Proposition 37 — Labeling food with genetically engineered ingredients: $25 million (Yes: $3 million) Yes on Proposition 39 — Changes corporate tax calculations to fund clean energy: $22.3 million (No: $0) Yes on Proposition 30 — Governor's proposed income and sales tax increase: $20 million (No: $479,000) Yes on Proposition 38 — Raises income taxes to fund education: $18.8 million (No: $0)

The propositions, as written in our ballots, give new meaning to our English-only law. ARDETH CROCKER Desert Hot Springs

SACRAMENTO - If you're still scratching your head over the long list of state ballot propositions, here's a voter's guide. It's not to be confused with those slick home mailers, often produced by political profiteers masquerading under some phony name such as "Californians for the American Way and Cute Puppies. " Don't even bring that stuff into the house. Half of you probably already have voted by mail. But for the other half who will cast ballots the old-fashioned way Tuesday, here's my take on the 11 props.

SACRAMENTO - It's time to stop vacillating. Election day is almost here. There are still a few loose ends to straighten out on the California ballot. Things such as auto insurance, sex slavery and food labeling. Also an obscure legislative redistricting measure. Here are some thoughts - mostly negative - on four measures, in numerical order: •Proposition 33: It's sponsored by one very narrow interest. Mercury Insurance founder George Joseph is bankrolling this initiative - with $16.4 million at last count - in an effort to steal customers from other insurers.

Fearing lawmakers may fail to pass a package of medical reform bills, a coalition of consumer groups and trial lawyers is mounting a campaign to put before voters an even more ambitious slate of initiatives aimed at curbing prescription drug abuse and holding doctors more accountable for misconduct. About two dozen state and national advocacy groups - including the Consumer Attorneys of California, California Nurses Assn., the Center for Public Interest Law, and Public Citizen - have been organizing privately since December and plan to unveil the campaign at the state Capitol on Thursday.

Official sample ballots for Los Angeles' May 21 election will be available April 22, a little less than two weeks from now. Voters who just want to get the whole thing over with - and let's be frank, don't we all? - can actually vote by mail that very same day by getting their super-early ballot directly from the city clerk. And that's fine for voters who are ready to roll on their runoff choices for mayor, city attorney, controller, Community College Board and (depending on their districts)

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court justices sounded closely split on gay marriage Tuesday, but Justice Anthony M. Kennedy suggested the court should strike down California's ban on same-sex marriage without ruling broadly on the issue. Twice during the oral argument, Kennedy questioned why the court had voted to hear the California case.  “I wonder if this case was properly granted,” Kennedy said at one point. His comments suggested that the court's four most conservative justices voted to hear the California case.

A nonprofit group that delivers services to people with HIV and AIDS wants voters to force the city of Los Angeles to create its own health department, separate from the county. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a longtime critic of the county's health bureaucracy, wants the city to operate its own health agency rather than rely on the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. The foundation has begun gathering signatures for a 2014 city ballot measure to do just that. The county department is too big and does an abysmal job of disease control, foundation President Michael Weinstein said.

For decades, Long Beach hotel workers fought for better wages. But their efforts to start unions mostly fizzled. So last year, union backers tried something new: a ballot measure. Voters swiftly gave them what years of picket lines and union-card drives had failed to secure - a $13-per-hour minimum wage for hundreds of Long Beach hotel workers. A similar shift happened in San Jose, where voters in November awarded workers a higher minimum wage not just in hotels, but citywide.

Facing overwhelming opposition to a proposed parcel fee to clean up storm water pollution, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors deferred a vote to place it on the ballot. The proposed fee would be levied on all property owners within the county's flood control district, raising an estimated $290 million a year to help cities and the county deal with widespread water quality issues stemming from polluted storm water and urban runoff - and the resulting threat of fines and litigation.

Even in the complicated world of pot politics, it's a confusing prospect: In the May municipal election, Los Angeles voters could face not one but three ballot measures geared toward regulating medical marijuana dispensaries. All three of the proposals would allow some pot shops to remain open, albeit under different regulations. The first two measures, which are sponsored by two groups of medical marijuana activists with competing interests, qualified for the ballot last week.

Why do Los Angeles city elections seem simultaneously so anticlimatic -- and so exhausting? There may be many reasons, but no doubt one of them is the calendar. City elections take place the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March every odd-numbered year, and state and local elections laws that are written around that date ensure that Los Angeles voters face an almost continuous campaign season. Inevitably, every November voting day in an even-numbered year, after we elect a president or a governor, we find ourselves square in the middle of a campaign for mayor or City Council.