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NEWS RELEASE

Date: November 6, 2002
Media Contact: Gene Rose 303-856-1518 / Bill Wyatt 202-624-8667

Voters Act on 200-plus Ballot Measures

With more than 200 ballot measures, voters across America took action on several key policy issues, including taxes, education, health care and the initiative process itself. Tax cuts were rejected in Arkansas and Massachusetts while education measures mostly found success. In Idaho, voters narrowly rejected term limits. Here is a category summary of voter actions on Tuesday.

Tax cuts generally failed. Voters decided against a tax cut on food and medicine in Arkansas and a repeal of the personal income tax in Massachusetts. In Washington, a measure cutting car license fees passed.

Results on tax increases are mixed. Two states - Arizona and Missouri - considered raising tobacco taxes. Arizona's passed but Missouri's failed, although the results were quite close.

A measure in Oregon that would have increased personal income tax rates and payroll taxes to fund a comprehensive health care plan failed. A measure in Utah to increase fees and taxes on the disposal and storage of radioactive waste also failed, as did a legislative proposal to increase taxes for transportation in Washington.

Two of the three measures that would have reallocated certain revenue streams failed: California's Proposition 51, which would have dedicated 30% of motor vehicle sales taxes to transportation, and a measure reallocating tobacco settlement revenues in Michigan. A similar measure on tobacco revenues passed in Montana.

North Dakota voters declined to pass a new tax credit for young people who elect to live and work in the state. And voters in Tennessee and North Dakota passed new lotteries.

Education was the big winner in the 2002 election, and most of the country's 24 education-related measures received voter approval.

• California's Proposition 49, sponsored by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, mandates more state spending on before- and after-school programs.
• Bans on bilingual education passed in Massachusetts but failed in Colorado.
• All three education measures on the ballot in Florida passed. They will implement class-size reduction, state-funded preschool, and a new governing board for the state university system.
• A number of gambling and lottery measures to fund education have passed in Arizona, Idaho, and Tennessee.
• Utah's Initiative 1, which increases taxes on the storage and disposal of radioactive waste and dedicates 80% of those revenues to education, failed.
• Missouri's Proposition A, a tobacco tax increase with a portion of revenues dedicated to education failed by a little less than one percent.
• North Dakota's effort to reimburse state residents for student loan payments failed.

Election reform results are mixed. The initiative process itself will be different in three states, thanks to successful ballot measures.

• Florida voters passed a measure requiring that all initiated constitutional amendments be accompanied by an economic impact statement.
• Montana voters approved an increase in the signature requirements for initiatives.
• Oregon voters passed a measure banning payment-per-signature for initiative petition circulators, although payment on an hourly or salary basis remains legal.

In other election news, election day registration proposals failed in California and Colorado. Colorado voters defeated a proposal to shift entirely to mail ballots and eliminate polling places on election day. Those same voters passed a campaign finance reform measure, but Massachusetts voters said no to an advisory question on keeping their system of public financing for campaigns. In Idaho, voters approved the legislature's move earlier this year to repeal term limits. Colorado voters declined to repeal term limits for district attorneys, while Missouri voters agreed that partial terms should be excluded from term limits. Voters in Michigan repealed the major election reform bill passed in 2001. That bill, which now will not take effect, included a repeal of straight-ticket voting, and provisions addressing training of election officials, provisional voting, and penalties for voter fraud, among others. In Wyoming, voters approved a measure allowing the legislature to resolve a dispute or challenge to determine the presidential electors.

Animal rights measures fared well on election day - except in Arkansas, where voters rejected a measure that would have made animal cruelty a felony. Florida voters passed Amendment 10, requiring more humane treatment of pregnant pigs. Oklahoma voters passed a controversial measure to ban cockfighting, and rejected a measure that would have made it more difficult to qualify animal-related initiatives in future years.

Throughout the 1990s, voters all over the country were receptive to medical marijuana initiatives. This year, most of the drug policy initiatives were more ambitious, and voters declined to pass measures legalizing the possession of marijuana or easing property forfeiture laws. Measures in Arizona, Nevada and Ohio all failed. Nevada's proposal was the most sweeping, and would have not only legalized possession of marijuana by any adult, but also would have required the state to regulate and tax marijuana sales.

Voters in the District of Columbia passed a measure mandating treatment in lieu of incarceration for non-violent drug offenders.

Arizona voters faced a total of four gambling-related measures, two of which failed. Proposition 200 would have extended tribal gaming compacts and Proposition 201 would have permitted slot machines at racetracks. Proposition 301, a legislative referendum to continue the state lottery, passed. Proposition 202, another measure extending tribal gaming compacts, passed. Idaho's measure allowing video gaming machines at tribal casinos passed, as did new state lotteries in North Dakota and Tennessee.

Health care measures did not do well nationwide, with the exception of a few tobacco-related measures. The most controversial health care measure on the ballot was in Oregon. Measure 23 would have created an entirely new health care system for the
state, modeled on Canada's public health care system. Apparently voters in
Oregon aren't ready for that kind of radical change, and the measure
received just 21% of the vote.

• Florida voters passed a measure banning smoking in workplaces.
• Arizona voters passed a measure to increase tobacco taxes to fund health care programs, but a similar measure in Missouri failed.
• Michigan and Montana had initiatives to reallocate tobacco settlement revenues to health care programs. Michigan's failed while Montana's passed.
• A trio of competing gambling measures in Arizona would have dedicated a portion of gaming revenues to a wide array of health care programs. Two of the three failed, but Proposition 202, which will help to fund trauma and emergency services, passed.
• Arizona voters also rejected a measure that would have required the Department of Public Safety to provide marijuana free of charge to each person qualified to use it for medical purposes.
• Arkansas voters declined to pass an initiative repealing all taxes on medicine.

Bond Measures

Bond measures are passing nationwide, with 21 of the 24 statewide bond issues passing. They will provide more than $22 billion in funding everything from mortgage assistance for veterans, to transportation, education and environmental projects. The three bond measures that failed were a Maine measure for new prisons, a New Mexico measure for state facilities and equipment, and a Rhode Island measure for infrastructure at an industrial park.

Twenty-three (47%) of the 49 initiatives on the ballot passed on November 5. Three of the four popular referenda on the ballot were successful in repealing a measure passed by the legislature.

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