Capitol Alert

Supporters of a tax measure backed by wealthy civil rights attorney Molly Munger have started submitting the voter signatures they've collected in their qualification campaign.

The campaign announced late today that it is submitting 241,049 signatures to elections officials in Los Angeles County. Backers hope to submit signatures of 775,000 voters in all. Roughly 504,000 valid signatures are needed to qualify the proposal for the November ballot.

Campaign spokesman Nathan Ballard said supporters are wrapping up signature-gathering efforts this week. He said he is "optimistic" that they will hit that target.

Munger's measure, which is supported by the California State PTA, would raise income taxes on a sliding scale on all but the poorest California workers for 12 years, with most of the estimated $10 billion in revenues going directly to schools and early development programs. A portion of the money would be used to pay down school bond debt for the first several years.

Supporters of the tax measure backed by Gov. Jerry Brown, which would temporarily hike the sales tax and increase income taxes for Californians making more than $250,000 a year, sought earlier this year to persuade Munger to drop her effort so there would not be more than one tax measure on the same ballot. That campaign has not yet announced turning in petition signatures.

Munger contributed $6 million of her own money to fuel the signature-gathering campaign and run two television ads supporting the measure, which she argues does the most to help schools. The measure has not fared as well as Brown's plan in recent statewide polls.

The California Board of Equalization overstepped five years ago when it voted to tax flavored malt beverages, known popularly as "alcopops," as hard liquor instead of beer, a state appellate court has ruled.

The Sacramento-based 3rd District Court of Appeal, in a decision released Monday, described the bottled drinks, such as Mike's Hard Lemonade and Smirnoff Ice, as "hybrids" of beer and distilled spirits but based its decision on a state agency's classification of them as beer.

The difference in taxation is immense. California taxes beer at 20 cents a gallon but hard liquor at $3.30 per gallon.

Anti-alcohol activists argued that the makers of the drinks marketed them to young people and pressed for the higher taxes to raise prices and discourage sales. The Board of Equalization's three Democrats agreed while its two Republicans voted against the hard liquor classification.

Diageo Guinness USA, which markets Smirnoff brands, and the Flavored Malt Beverage Coalition challenged the Board of Equalization decision in court, noting that an alcopop's alcohol content was similar to beer's, but lost at the trial level before winning the appellate court decision.

"The Legislature did not delegate authority to the board to adopts its own classification of alcoholic beverages," Justice Harry Hull wrote in the 3-0 decision.

Western States Petroleum Association topped the list of big spenders for lobbying in the first three months of this year, forking out $948,840, according to newly released state records.

The petroleum association had its hand in numerous issues, ranging from a low-carbon fuel standard to waste discharge requirements and implementation of a landmark state law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions substantially. It also lobbied for or against more than a dozen bills, records show.

Since the two-year legislative session began in January 2011, however, the California Teachers Association has spent the most money for lobbying, $7.1 million, state records show. The California Council of Service Employees is second, $5.6 million; and the petroleum association is third, $5.2 million.

Cumulatively, Capitol interests have doled out $66.9 million for lobbying in the first quarter, California Common Cause concluded Wednesday after analyzing disclosure statements. The total is a near-record for the first three months of a year, topped only by $68 million in 2008, said Phillip Ung, the group's policy advocate.

Ung said that interest groups lobby in good times to expand benefits they receive in state tax breaks or other assistance, and they lobby in bad times to protect such benefits.

"Our experience is that the influence industry seems to be recession proof," Ung said.

The first quarter's $66.9 million in cumulative spending compares to $66.7 million in the first three months of 2011, Ung said.

As the Legislature moved into high gear last year, so did lobbying expenditures: $76.4 million in the second quarter, then $73.3 million in the third quarter before the total dropped slightly to $70.0 million in the fourth quarter, Ung said.

In addition to the Western States Petroleum Association, The Bee has compiled the following list of the biggest spenders for lobbying in the first three months of 2012, based on state records:

Supporters of a proposal to require labeling for genetically engineered foods sold on California shelves took a step toward qualifying for the ballot by submitting nearly a million signatures today.

Initiative proponents announced today that they submitted 971,126 signatures to county election officials across the state. Roughly 504,000 valid voter signatures are needed to qualify for the November ballot.

"We're very confident that we'll be on the ballot in November," spokeswoman Stacy Malkan said.

Under the measure, raw foods and products made primarily from genetically engineered ingredients and some processed foods could not be advertised or labeled as "natural." It includes some exceptions, including for organic products, foods sold in restaurants and animal products supplemented with genetically engineered ingredients.

"This is about the right to know," Malkan said of the push for labeling. "It's a fundamental right, a bedrock American value."

Opponents, which include the California Farm Bureau Federation and the California Chamber of Commerce, say creating a California-specific labeling requirements will raise prices for consumers and lead to lawsuits. They also argue that the number of exemptions will end up misleading voters.

"Proponents want you to believe this measure is simply about labeling foods with GE ingredients. The truth is that this measure goes far beyond labeling and contains extreme provisions that will cost us all," Jamie Johansson, an Oroville farmer who serves as second vice president of the California Farm Bureau Federation, said in a statement.

Supporters of the initiative disagree, claiming it would not raise food prices substantially or spark a wave of lawsuits.

California law says voters have up to 10 minutes to mark their ballots -- but it also says they do not.

A conflicting provision of the state elections code sets the limit at five minutes, creating a discrepancy that has sparked legislation, headed to the Assembly floor, to resolve the matter.

The setting of a time limit decades ago was designed to help elections officials keep voters moving on election day, lowering prospects that long lines form and discourage Californians from casting ballots.

The issue potentially could be significant in a presidential election year, such as 2012, in which turnout is expected to be high and perhaps a dozen initiatives will be decided, along with state, federal and local races.

Assembly Bill 1724, by Cupertino Democratic Assemblyman Paul Fong, would repeal the five-minute limit, thus setting the bar at 10 minutes.

Under current law, neither the five- nor the 10-minute limit could be enforced unless necessary to avoid inconveniencing other voters.

AB 1724 takes a different tack, eliminating the mention of inconvenience and simply stating that voters can stay in the booth for longer than 10 minutes if they tell a precinct board member that they need more time.

Concerns were raised this week at a meeting of the Assembly's elections committee, which passed AB 1724 by a vote of 5-1, that such an open-ended provision could enable a group to disrupt an election by occupying voting booths indefinitely. Fong is considering amendments to address that issue, aides said.

Then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation similar to AB 1724 in 2009, saying in his veto message that "there is no evidence that the discrepancy in current law has resulted in a significant problem for voters."

A court fight erupted over the issue of a time limit in 1988, however, when Marin, Sonoma and Santa Clara counties announced that they planned to enforce some measure of the 10-minute limit because of a lengthy ballot that included 27 state propositions. Civil rights activists sued, saying enforcement could hamper voting by people who read English slowly.

A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against enforcing the 10-minute limit, but the ruling was overturned by a federal appeals court, which said there was no evidence that the statute would be enforced rigidly or in a manner that unduly restricted any group.

Six Republican Assembly members gained new titles today as Republican leader Connie Conway expanded and altered her leadership team.

Conway's changes come in the wake of the GOP's Jeff Gorell returning from deployment to the Afghanistan War and Nathan Fletcher's decision to leave the party to register as an independent.

Two moderate Republicans formerly in leadership positions were not included in the new lineup: Cameron Smyth of Santa Clarita, formerly an assistant leader; and Bill Berryhill of Ceres, formerly a chief whip.

Sabrina Lockhart, Conway's spokeswoman, said that the exclusions of Smyth and Berryhill were not punitive. Both are leaving the Assembly in December. Smyth is termed out and Berryhill is running for a Senate seat.

Conway, in announcing her leadership changes, vowed to "fight to protect Californians from higher taxes" and to push for "common-sense bipartisan solutions" to problems ranging from pension debt to education budget cuts.

Gov. Jerry Brown wants K-12 districts to plan for the next school year as if voters will pass his $9 billion tax hike in November, but the vast majority of them are refusing to do so, according to a new Legislative Analyst's Office survey.

Nearly 90 percent of respondents said they will wait until after November to spend the money. In doing so, districts will likely lay off more teachers and increase class sizes beyond the level that Brown wants heading into the election.

District officials typically budget conservatively, assuming a worst-case scenario. This year, they have a huge uncertainty in not knowing how the November tax initiative will fare, yet they are required to decide how many teachers and staff to lay off before the school year starts.

According to the survey, 36 percent of districts said they would budget this year without the governor's tax hike but plan to spend the money in 2013-14. One-third of districts said they would wait until after November to figure out how to spend the money in the second half of the school year, while one-fifth said they would predetermine an automatic trigger spending plan that kicks in next spring if the taxes pass.

Only 8 percent of districts said they will pursue Brown's preferred path of installing trigger cuts for the second half of the year should the tax hike fail.

VIDEO: Dan Walters says California's population slowdown is going to change everything.

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Read Dan Walters' columns here.

VIDEO: Dan Walters says in today's video report that California's population slowdown will mean more older residents and less need for things like cars.

California's first dog, Sutter Brown, has a barking gig in Los Angeles today.

Sutter is joining Gov. Jerry Brown, actor Pierce Brosnan and dog whisperer Cesar Millan to promote the state's Pet Lover's License Plate, which would help fund spay and neuter programs. The presser starts at 2:30 p.m. at Petco, 1873 Westwood Blvd.

How is Sutter getting to L.A.? "FedEx," joked Brown spokesman Gil Duran via Twitter.

Yeah, right. The Humane Society's Jennifer Fearing tweeted: "Gas up the @HumaneSociety Prius! Road trip with @SutterBrown! I'm bringing sandwiches, per his request."

The governor, who recently signed Assembly Bill 610 to extend the period of time for pre-ordering the plate, will take part later this afternoon in a Milken Institute 2012 Global Conference discussion on attracting and keeping out-of-state investment.

But enough about Sutter. Let's talk frogs.

Today is the 38th annual Capitol frog jumping contest, with Sen. Ted Gaines organizing the event yet again as Calaveras County's representative. The Rocklin Republican has named his contestant -- drum roll, please -- "Capitol Gaines."

Last year's winner bore the moniker Unicorn and jumped for a team headed by then-Senate GOP leader Bob Dutton. Its name was a reference to Democratic Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield's assessment of GOP budget proposals.

The contest is a precursor to this month's Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee, which lays claim to being one of California's longest running events. It starts at noon on the Capitol's east lawn. There are three ways to win: longest jump, shortest jump and, believe it or not, media jump.

LIVE CHAT: Want to know more about California's new top-two, open primary? The Bee's Torey Van Oot is taking questions about how the changes will affect the June 5 primary election. Join it live from noon to 1 p.m. at sacbee.com/live.

LEGISLATURE: Committees meet in both houses, with several subcommittees considering budget proposals and the Assembly Appropriations Committee's agenda loaded with bills. The Senate Rules Committee, meanwhile, considers gubernatorial appointments, with Rosa Moran, the Division of Workers' Compensation's administrator director, and Christine Baker, the director of Industrial Relations, required to appear. Click here for the Senate's daily file, and click here for the Assembly's.