Capitol Alert: Proposal to change Prop 14 language sparks legal firestorm

A proposed agreement to change to the ballot language for Proposition 14 has sparked a possible legal showdown days before the deadline for finalizing materials for the June primary election.

Proposition 14, which was placed on the ballot by legislators last year as part of the February budget package, would replace the current Party primaries with a system in which voters of all political affiliations cast votes in a single primary election. The two candidates who receive the most votes, regardless of party affiliation, would advance to run-off election.

The current ballot title and summary for the Prop 14 states that the measure "encourages increased participation.... by reforming the procedure by which candidates are selected in primary elections" and "gives voters increased options by allowing all voters to chose any candidate regardless of the candidate's or voter's political preference."

The California School Employees Association filed a lawsuit in Sacramento Superior Court Friday to strike those and other provisions approved by the Legislature on the basis that they presented "a completely biased description (of the measure) that in our opinion would not stand the test of the court's evaluation on impartially," according to CSEA Assistant Director of Governmental Relations David Low.

A draft of an agreement to change the language reached between the petitioners and the Legislative Counsel is set to be reviewed at a hearing scheduled for Friday.

But representatives from the Yes on 14 Campaign are filing their own legal complaint, demanding that the courts throw out the proposed agreement.

Steve Merksamer, an attorney for the campaign, alleged yesterday that opponents and the Legislature are colluding to "transform the title and summary and ballot label into a campaign piece against Proposition 14."

Merksamer and other Prop 14 supporters want the Legislative Counsel to defend the ballot language as written in court this week or allow them to intervene to argue in support of the measure.