New Challenge to Legislative Term Limits Vowed

A day after voters soundly defeated a measure to extend legislative terms, a key supporter of the effort vowed to challenge California’s strict limits again and would not rule out November as a possibility.

The other five proposals on Tuesday’s ballot--including plans dedicating gas sales taxes to transportation and authorizing bond sales for parks and for new voting equipment--all passed, with nearly all votes counted.

Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson (D-Culver City) said the high Republican turnout in the primary election contributed to the defeat of Proposition 45.

The measure, which would have allowed state legislators to seek four more years in office, went down on a vote of 58% to 42%, with only Los Angeles and San Francisco counties voting in favor.

A disappointed Wesson described the outcome Wednesday as “an opportunity lost” and said there would be another challenge to the 12-year-old limits. “I was surprised by the margin,” he said. “It would be closer in a November election when more Democrats turn out.”

Dan Schnur, manager of the No on 45 campaign, brushed aside Wesson’s contention that timing was an issue.

“If Proposition 45 had been defeated narrowly, I could see how career politicians in Sacramento would be desperate enough to try this again in November,” Schnur said. “But voters overwhelmingly rejected this effort to kill term limits and they would again in winter, spring, summer or fall.”

Currently, senators must leave their posts after two four-year terms, and Assembly members must move on after three two-year terms. Those limits will force Wesson and Senate leader John Burton (D-San Francisco) out of office in 2004, though Wesson could seek a state Senate seat.

Proposition 45 would have allowed legislators to run for an additional four years by securing signatures of 20% of the voters who cast ballots in their districts in the prior election.

Burton said polling showed that voters’ attitudes toward the measure changed when they learned it would cost counties money to verify the petitions. He said he has not decided whether he will make another bid to extend terms.

“I think what happened was that people were more afraid about the cost than anything,” Burton said.

Gov. Gray Davis said Wednesday that he didn’t take a position on Proposition 45 because he “didn’t have a dog in the fight.” The initiative applied only to legislators, he noted, and not to statewide officeholders.

Davis would not say how he voted, calling it “a private matter,” and suggested that he will not change his neutral stand any time soon.

“You never say never, but I think voters have spoken pretty clearly, twice,” Davis said. “I’m not saying I wouldn’t examine the issue somewhere down the road. But certainly in the short term, I think we have to respect the will of the voters.”

The California Teachers Assn. also suffered an upset Tuesday with the passage of Proposition 42, which dedicates state sales taxes on gasoline to transportation projects. Traffic-weary voters approved the measure 69% to 31% despite a last-minute, $3-million television advertising blitz by the teachers union and the Service Employees International Union.

The two groups fear that the measure will strip money from education, health care and other services. Teachers union President Wayne Johnson said he did not regret launching the late opposition campaign.

“We knew when we did it that it would be risky,” Johnson said.

Scott Macdonald, a spokesman for Proposition 42, said common sense prevailed.

“Voters want to spend the sales tax on gasoline on transportation,” he said. “That’s where they thought it was going in the first place.”

Supporters of the $2.6-billion parks and water bond, Proposition 40, credited their success in part to low interest rates that make it a smart time for California to borrow money.

Mary Nichols, secretary of the state Resources Agency, said she was extremely gratified by widespread support for the bond. It earned 57% of the vote, winning in counties such as San Bernardino, Riverside and Imperial--outside the coastal areas that traditionally support park bonds.

Every county is guaranteed at least $1.2 million from the parks bond. In coming months, horse trading in the Legislature will determine how the money is spent within a variety of categories.

For example, the measure dedicates $460 million to the purchase and construction of urban parks, $267.5 million for buying and preserving historically significant properties and $75 million for restoring land along urban rivers and streams.

Supporters, ranging from Waste Management Inc. to the Nature Conservancy, raised more than $6 million for mailers and television advertising.

Voters barely approved a far less expensive bond measure, Proposition 41, authorizing $200 million to help counties cover the cost of new voting machines.

Nine California counties, including Los Angeles, are under court order to replace their punch-card voting systems by March 2004. The measure squeaked by, getting 51.5% of the vote.

“People were concerned about putting the state in more debt when it’s been pretty obvious over the last several weeks that we’re in big enough debt as is,” said Mark Capitolo, spokesman for the Yes on 41 campaign.

But huge problems remain before L.A. County can retire its punch-card machines, which are similar to those used in Florida’s “hanging chad” debacle.

Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Conny B. McCormack estimates the cost of a new touch-screen computer voting system at $100 million, of which Proposition 41 should cover $75 million.

McCormack said only one company in the nation makes touch-screen voting equipment in the seven languages Los Angeles County requires. She said the county will probably shift to an interim paper voting system in which voters fill in bubbles with a pen.

Voters also approved Proposition 43, which ensures that all votes legally cast will be counted. The measure passed 71% to 29%.

Finally, a measure to crack down on insurance fraud among California’s 15,000 licensed chiropractors, Proposition 44, passed with nearly 80% of the vote.