A Sacramento Superior Court judge on Friday blocked the Secretary of State's Office from assigning ballot numbers for the November election while the court examines recent election procedures and a new law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown.
The campaign for a rival income tax initiative, funded by attorney Molly Munger, filed suit Thursday to prevent Brown's measure from appearing on the ballot ahead of hers. Under the order from Judge Timothy Frawley, Secretary of State Debra Bowen must now wait until after a July 9 hearing to set the ballot numbers.
She had otherwise planned to do so Monday, her office said.
Munger's "Our Children, Our Future" campaign believes that its initiative should have qualified ahead of Brown's because it submitted signatures before the governor did -- and had fewer to count as a statutory change rather than a constitutional amendment. In past elections, qualifying order determined where initiatives appeared on the ballot.
The campaign also alleges that Brown and lawmakers illegally enacted budget-related legislation this week that moves the governor's initiative to the top of the ballot, presuming lawmakers delay a water bond.
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