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Seven southe Los Angeles County cities are suing Metro over its proposed half-cent sales tax increase on the Nov. 8 ballot, arguing the language is misleading and the agency didn’t specify most of the transportation projects it would fund. The ballot description takes a kitchen-sink approach, saying Measure M is needed “to improve freeway traffic flow/safety; repair potholes/sidewalks; repave local streets; earthquake retrofit bridges; synchronize signals; keep senior/disabled/student fares affordable; expand rail/subway/bus systems/ improve jobs/school/airport coections; and create jobs ...” But it doesn’t mention that the vast majority of transportation improvements won’t touch the southe...

LOS ANGELES — Attoeys for a coalition of seven Los Angeles County cities will try again Tuesday to file a request for an accelerated hearing on a lawsuit filed last week on behalf of taxpayers conceing the ballot language for Measure M, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposed half-cent county sales tax ballot action. The Los Angeles Superior Court petition filed by the cities of Carson, Commerce, Norwalk, Torrance, Santa Fe Springs, Ranchos Palos Verdes and Signal Hill alleges that the ballot label for Measure M is misleading and does not include the actual 1 percent total rate of the tax to be imposed. Lawyers for the petitioners arrived too late to Judge Mary H. Strobel’s cour...

Hamstrung by strict limits on political contributions, Califoia lawmakers have found a way to continue to extract large sums from some of Sacramento’s most powerful special interests. Increasingly, they’re using “ballot measure committees,” little-known and barely regulated accounts that are supposed to promote or oppose state and local initiatives but in practice are paying for consultants and polling firms, new suits and trips to Mexico. And the money for the politicians’ perks comes in the form of five-figure donations from the same special interests that state rules were intended to curtail. An analysis by Digital First Media, which includes this news organization, shows that the number...

LOS ANGELES — A Metro county sales tax measure aimed at raising revenue to build, operate and maintain public transportation projects was officially certified by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder today for the Nov. 8 ballot. If approved by at least two-thirds of voters, Measure M would enact a half-cent sales tax hike to fund a package of transportation improvements that include new rail and bus lines, highway improvements and street repairs. The tax revenue would also help fund the operation and maintenance of the regional transportation system. The measure would build on an existing half-cent tax put in place by voters through Measure R, by boosting that tax to a full cent, and le...

PARAMOUNT >>The Paramount Unified School District will ask voters in November to approve a $106 million bond measure to help fund upgrades and repairs across its 19-campus system, officials said Wednesday. Superintendent Ruth Perez said many of the 15,500 students enrolled in the district attend campuses equipped with aging facilities, some built over 50 years ago. While many campuses are in need of repairs and upgrades, she said, top priorities include replacing outdated portable buildings at Paramount High School and other large campuses, upgrading school security systems and facilitating access for disabled students and faculty. “Our local schools need basic safety improvements,” P...

Before Steve Jobs invented the PC, computers were room-sized, difficult to operate and expensive. Now they fit in the palm of your hand and perform complex functions at the sound of your voice. Likewise, air pollution sensors are going mainstream, changing from complex devices operated by scientists in white lab coats to hand-held detectors sold on Amazon.com or e-bay for a few hundred bucks to citizen scientists sitting in their backyards. There are so many devices sold online that measure particulate matter (PM) near your home during a wildfire or ground-level ozone on a hot-and-smoggy day that the folks at the South Coast Air Quality Management District began studying which ones work the ...

Long Beach voters now have three marijuana-related ballot measures to decide on come November. Adding to an already lengthy statewide general election ballot, the City Council on Tuesday voted to add a tax measure that City Clerk Maria de la Luz Garcia said would help fund public safety, police officers, emergency response, homelessness and general city services should voters pass ballot measures proposed at the local and state level. The two initiatives facing voters are: Proposition 64, a statewide initiative that would legalize recreational marijuana for those 21 and older; and a local initiative that aims to allow as many as 32 medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the city. The cit...

Measure A made things easier. But not easy. The city released its 2017 budget proposal on Monday, and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia called it balanced, responsible and forward-looking, thanks in part to a burst of new revenue from the voter-approved sales tax measure expected to drum up $384 million over the next decade. With Fire Engine No. 8 sparkling in the background – one of the public safety additions expected to be funded by Measure A – Garcia and City Manager Patrick West stood inside the Belmont Shore Fire Station and laid out a list of highlights for the coming fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1, 2016 and runs through Sept. 31, 2017. The City Council over the next several weeks wil...

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted today to rescind last week’s vote to put a marijuana tax on the November ballot to fund the fight against homelessness. Supervisor Sheila Kuehl recommended backing away from the tax proposal, saying she was conceed by a lack of support among homeless advocates. Kuehl said it would take about $3 million to successfully mount a campaign for the measure, making it important to be sure “everyone is with you.” The board itself was divided on the measure, with Supervisor Mark Ridley- Thomas pushing hard last week for a quarter-cent general sales tax rather than a gross receipts tax on marijuana businesses. But Ridley-Thomas failed to...

Los Angeles County filed a lawsuit Monday against Southe Califoia Gas Company to try and force the utility to install safety valves at its gas wells. The civil suit asks the court to order SoCalGas to install sub-surface safety shut-off valves at all of its county wells. The utility operates over 200 natural wells at four gas storage fields in Los Angeles County, according to the suit. Attoey Skip Miller, counsel for Los Angeles County, said Monday’s lawsuit marks the county’s first independent legal action against SoCalGas over the massive Aliso Canyon gas leak, which spewed 100,000 metric tons of methane. The suit alleges public nuisance and seeks unspecified damages. “It’s just not accep...

Protracted policy questions. Big-money battles. Contradictory proposals that are difficult to disce. It’s shaping up to be an all-too-typical fall election, once again confronting Califoia voters with an unwieldy ballot. This wasn’t supposed to happen. After polls confirmed that Califoia voters were frustrated by ballot overload, lawmakers two years ago made changes aimed at pre-empting at least some initiatives from landing on the ballot and improving those that do. One change gave the Legislature extra time to hold hearings to try to compromise with interest groups pitching complex issues. “We’re taking an important step to modeize and strengthen direct democracy,” Gov. Jerry Brown said a...

The city wants residents to consider approving a tax measure on medical and recreational marijuana to help offset enforcement costs should voters pass one or more citizen-backed ballot measures come November. Vice Mayor Rex Richardson said the city needs to consider putting a safeguard in place to capture tax revenue because, if approved, a local medical marijuana ballot measure includes provisions that would repeal taxes related to sale and cultivation that were previously adopted by voters in 2010, and significantly reduce voter-approved taxes on medical marijuana. The City Council on Tuesday asked City Attoey Charles Parkin to compile a four-part tax measure back to council for a vote on...

From marijuana to millionaires, the Losu2009Angeles County Board of Supervisors is expected to discuss a range of tax proposals Tuesday as it considers four options for the November ballot to bolster funds to help the homeless. A 1-percent sales tax on medical marijuana could generate $1.3u2009million a year, according to a county report. The estimate is based on data that found that medical marijuana sales generated $132u2009million in Losu2009Angeles County in 2014. A 10u2009percent tax could generate $13u2009million aually. If recreational marijuana is approved by voters in November, a 5 to 10u2009percent sales tax could bring in $33u2009million to $117u2009million. But a sales tax on ma...

Long Beach voters can look forward to seeing at least two marijuana-related initiatives on their November ballots. City Clerk Maria de la Luz Garcia aounced Tuesday that supporters of a city initiative seeking to allow medical caabis dispensaries to operate in Long Beach have collected enough verified signatures to place their measure up for a vote on Nov. 8. “We are ecstatic. We are very happy,” said Long Beach Collective Association board member Adam Hijazi. The collective association and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 324, the latter of which seeks to unionize future dispensary workers, are major supporters of the Long Beach ballot measure. News of the Long Beach measure qualif...

LOS ANGELES >> Califoia is again testing how much democracy is too much, with voters facing up to 18 ballot questions in November that could end the death penalty, cut into the cost of prescription drugs and free marijuana smokers to legally light up in the nation’s most populous state. The cascade of proposals is certain to create confusion at the ballot box, along with fresh criticism that the state’s system of direct democracy has run amok. Low voter tuout in 2014 meant campaigns needed relatively few signatures to qualify for the ballot. Collectively, the proposals would cut into a broad swath of life in Califoia, involving issues from classrooms to prisons, the po industry to cig...

Adult film performers who work in the San Feando Valley and beyond had hoped an initiative requiring condom use during production shoots would be withdrawn from Califoia’s November ballot. But by Thursday evening — the deadline for proponents to withdraw initiatives — the Condoms in Poographic Films Initiative appeared to be staying on the ballot, leaving performers such as Ela Darling scared and disappointed, she said. “Even if you think the adult film industry needs to have stricter condom laws, this isn’t the way to do it,” Darling said. “It’s about our personal privacy and our safety.” The proposed initiative contains traces of Measure B, an ordinance passed by Los Angeles County voters...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. >> The Califoia Legislature on Thursday sent Gov. Jerry Brown 12 gun-control measures as Democratic lawmakers try a last-ditch effort to convince Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom to drop a proposed ballot initiative. Legislative leaders hailed the move as the nation’s most aggressive gun control effort and proof that firearm restrictions are politically viable. Their measures eaed a sharp rebuke from gun-rights advocates who say the Legislature is shredding constitutional gun-ownership rights. Senior Califoia Democrats have been waging an increasingly tense battle over how to strengthen the state’s gun laws. Newsom, a Democrat ruing for goveor in 2018, is promoting a ballot me...

LOS ANGELES >> A ballot measure that would raise the sales tax in Los Angeles County by a half cent and fund $120 billion in rail and freeway improvements over the next 50 years moved a step closer Thursday to being considered by the voters. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) board — by an 11-2 vote — approved the measure for placement on the Nov. 8 ballot. Though considered a formality, the county Board of Supervisors, whose members also sit on the 13-member Metro board, have until Aug. 12 to place the initiative on the ballot. The new tax would fund numerous projects in the next 10 years, including: a possible light-rail train through the Sepulveda ...

LOS ANGELES >> A ballot measure that would raise the sales tax in Los Angeles County by a half cent and funds $120 billion in transportation improvements for the next 50 years moved a step closer to being considered by the voters on Thursday. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority board — by an 11-2 vote — approved the measure that includes a schedule that prioritizes projects above others over 50 years will be forwarded to the county Board of Supervisors, who have until Aug. 22 to place the measure on the Nov. 8 ballot. “It is the most comprehensive transportation initiative in this country today,” said Metro CEO Phil Washington. “We believe the benefits allow u...

LOS ANGELES >> The Metro board of directors is scheduled to vote today on whether to move forward with a November ballot measure calling for a half-cent sales-tax hike to raise money for public transit projects and maintenance in Los Angeles County. If the board approves, voters will be asked to increase Los Angeles County’s sales tax by another half-cent, and continue the existing Measure R half-cent tax indefinitely. Metro officials had originally plaed to have the proposed tax increase sunset in 40 years -- which would have raised $120 billion -- but aounced earlier this month that they plan to propose a tax without a sunset date. The permanent total one-cent sales tax for transit ...