Association claims measure is invalid because it is in a primary
election, not general
– as required by law
Morgan Hill – The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has sued to keep a half-cent county sales tax measure off the June ballot.
In the suit, filed Tuesday in Santa Clara County Superior Court, the association argues that the ballot measure is invalid because its being contested in a primary election, not a general election as required by state law.
“It’s a real rifle shot of a lawsuit, it’s aimed only at the election date. We don’t really have an opinion one way or the other as to the wisdom of the proposed tax,” said Timothy Bittle, director of legal affairs for the association. “But they’re presenting it to the people in the June primary which is not allowed under the California Constitution.”
The state constitution requires a general tax measure to be held in a general election in which members of the governing body are facing re-election. The law is the result of Proposition 218, which passed in 1996.
But the state elections code has many definitions of general, including any statewide June election held in an evenly-numbered year. Supervisor Don Gage is up for election in June, as is the seat currently held by Supervisor Jim Beall, who is termed out.
“It’s clearly a general election and there is a board member running for re-election,” Santa Clara County Counsel Ann Ravel said Tuesday. “In this case I do not think there’s going to be room for interpretation. If you read the elections code together with Prop. 218, it’s clear that this is a general election.”
Ravel also dismissed the suit’s claim that ballot measure violates the county charter, which defines a general election for supervisors as occurring during an election year for governor or president.
“What they’re trying to do is bootstrap the county charter onto it, but the county charter doesn’t apply in this case,” Ravel said. “It seems to me what they’re trying to do is cause a media issue rather than make valid legal arguments.”
Steve Levin, an attorney with the Center for Governmental Studies, called the elections code “notoriously badly written.”
“There are exceptions to everything and the county may have well known what they’re doing when they put it on the June ballot,” Levin said. “There may be legitimate arguments that could be made on both sides.”
If it passes, the ballot measure would raise the county sales tax to 8.75 percent, the highest in the Bay Area. Known as Measure A, the tax would raise about $160 million a year and be used for housing, healthcare, social services and transportation projects.
