Written by Mark Bucher Monday, 07 December 2009 17:46
Jerry Brown, the Attorney General, issued our title and summary late Friday, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. That does not do my response justice. I was pleasantly stunned. The title and summary is supposed to be a neutral explanation of an initiative to help the average voter understand it. Often, however, their description is so far off the mark that initiative proponents go to court to get them changed.
The title and summary for the Citizen Power Initiative, however, describes accurately and fairly what the initiative will do, which is make it illegal to use public employee wage deductions for politics. Hats off to Jerry Brown on this one. Boy, I never thought I would say that!
Here is the entire title and summary:
The Attorney General of California has prepared the following title and summary of the chief
purpose and points of the proposed measure:
MAKES ILLEGAL THE USE OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEE WAGE DEDUCTIONS FOR
POLITICAL ACTIVITIES. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.
Amends the California Constitution to make it illegal to deduct from wages or earnings of a public employee any amount that will be used for political activities as defined. Prohibits any membership organization that receives public employee wage deductions from using those funds for any political activities, but does not apply to deductions for charitable organizations, health, life or disability insurance, or other purposes directly benefitting the public employee. Authorizes the Legislature and Fair Political Practices Commission to adopt related laws and regulations. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal
impact on state and local government: Probably minor state and local government implementation costs, potentially offset in part by revenues from fines and/or fees.