11-19-2002 CC RPT 41A - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Gray Davis won reelection, but by a much smaller margin than expected. Voter dissatisfaction with both candidates apparently drove many voters away from the polls. We will have to wait for the final election analysis to understand more about voter behavior in the November 2002 election. Filling out the list of constitutional officers are: Cruz Bustamante, Lt. Governor, reelected; Secretary of State, Kevin Shelley, newly elected; State Treasurer, Phil Angelides, reelected; State Controller Steve Westly, newly elected; Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jack O'Connell, newly elected; State Insurance, John Garamendi, elected for a second term, after a break of several years' service. The California Congressional delegation remains relatively the same, with the Democrats picking up the new seat given to California after the new census. Democrats control now control 33 House seats and the Republicans retain 20 seats. Return to Table of Contents Voters Strongly Endorse Proposition 46 to Meet Housing Needs At Tuesday's election Proposition 46, the Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act, received strong voter support, garnering 57.5% of the vote statewide. City officials around the state joined with the League's regional representatives, Action for Better Cities (ABC), and housing groups like the California Building Industry Association (CBIA), and Housing California, to secure approval of this vital measure. Proposition 46 will provide funding for shelters for battered women, housing for Iow-income senior citizens, emergency shelters for homeless families with children, housing with social services for the homeless and mentally ill, repairs and accessibility improvements to apartments for families and handicapped citizens, homeownership assistance for military veterans, and security improvements and repairs to existing emergency shelters. It authorizes the establishment of a new housing trust fund that will be financed by issuing bonds totaling two billion one hundred million dollars ($2,100,000,000). Every city and county is eligible to receive funds as specified in the measure. Commenting on passage of the act, Chris McKenzie, Executive Director of the League, said: "We want to congratulate Senator John Burton who authored Proposition 46, Housing California, the CBIA, city officials, and all of our other partners in helping make this a successful campaign. Clearly the housing needs of Californians will be better met as a result of voter approval of this important measure, but there is still much more to be done. We are ready to get to work." Return to Table of Contents Cities' Utility User Taxes: Election Update Utility User Taxes (UUT) propositions were on the ballot in a number of California cities during last Tuesday's elections. Some of the measures involved increases in the UUT, but a significant number of the ballot measures were designed to repeal or reduce the amount of revenue a city could collect through this funding tool. The League's political action arm, Action for Better Cities (ABC), sponsored two workshops in recent months, during which city officials were provided with information on how to educate the public about the need to retain a UUT to support critical services. With some exceptions, it appears that these public education efforts were successful: voters in most cities supported retaining their city's UUT. The League is aware of the following outcomes (possibly not a comprehensive list). City officials interested in further details about Page 2 of 6 41a-2