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President's Message
Vote by Mail Study
State League Convention
High Cost of the Initiative Process
Legislative Reports
Local League News - Hawaii County (Marian Wilkins)
Local League News - Honolulu (Grace Furukawa)
Local League News - Kauai County (Carol Bain)
Council '99
Membership Survey on Domestic Partnerships
Education Committee Report (Mary Anne Raywid)
Education Bills
League Office Now Wired
Millennium Young People's Conference
PLCO-Hawaii Still Recruiting
Proposed LWV Budget FY 1999-2000

High Cost of the Initiative Process

Found in the LWVLA Voter, Dec. '98 /Jan. '99 issue.

The California Voter Foundation (CVF) tracked campaign contribution made to statewide candidates and ballot measure campaigns throughout the 1998 election season. A total of $90 million was raised by statewide candidates between January 1 and November 3, 1998. In addition, a total of $195 million was raised by November 1998 ballot measure campaigns.

Following are excerpts from the report on amounts spent on different issues and the results. In all, there were 12 ballot issues.

  1. Trapping practices (passed) Initiative.
    Bans steel-jawed leghold traps and specified poisons.
    For - $1,338,295 Against - $450,331

  2. Tribal gaming (passed) Initiative.
    Specifies terms and conditions of a mandatory compact between the state and Indian tribes for gambling on tribal land, and allows slot machines and banked card games there.
    For - $67,977,275 Against - $27,762,22 I

  3. Prohibition on the slaughter of horses (passed) Initiative.
    Prohibits possession, transfer or receipt of horses for slaughter intended for sale for human consumption, as well as sale of horsemeat for human consumption.
    For - $1,218,563 Against - $0

  4. Air quality (failed) Initiative.
    Authorizes $218 million in state tax credits annually until January 2011 to encourage reduction of air emissions.
    For - $2,333,417 Against - $11,471

  5. Electric Utilities (failed) Initiative.
    Prohibits taxes, bonds or surcharges to pay costs of nuclear power plants and limit recovery by electric companies for costs of nonnuclear power plants....
    For - $1,386,271 Against - $39,968,852

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