Capitol Alert

Two minutes after a restraining order ended Monday, Secretary of State Debra Bowen issued numbers to 11 measures on the November ballot, with Gov. Jerry Brown's tax proposal topping the list as Proposition 30.

The Democratic governor is asking voters to hike the sales tax by a quarter-cent on the dollar and to raise income taxes starting with individuals making more than $250,000 a year. Brown and Democratic lawmakers passed a budget bill last month that moved his initiative to the top of the November ballot.

The governor survived a court challenge Monday after rival tax proponent Molly Munger alleged that her income-tax hike deserved a higher placement than Brown's. Munger's "Our Children, Our Future" initiative landed on the ballot as Proposition 38.

Bowen, a Democrat, issued the ballot numbers at 5:02 p.m., two minutes after a court stay imposed at Munger's request had ended. She released the numbers despite a last-minute challenge by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which asked the Sacramento-based 3rd District Court of Appeal to block Bowen from proceeding.

The anti-tax group believes that the budget legislation giving Brown the top spot, Assembly Bill 1499, is unconstitutional. HJTA President Jon Coupal said that the court can still require the secretary of state to reassign initiative numbers if it rules in his group's favor.

See the full list of initiative numbers after the jump:

Students and local residents will no longer be able to repeat recreational courses at California Community Colleges in fall 2013 under a final change passed today by the system's Board of Governors.

In the wake of recessionary budget cuts, the new rule is designed to shift resources away from courses such as tennis and painting in order to free up funds for more basic academic classes.

Students and community members had been able to repeat a class as many as four times under previous rules governing the system's 112 colleges. Supporters of recreational courses have suggested the change would undermine student health and eliminate access to campus offerings that motivate students to remain in college. We wrote about the change in May.

The new restriction exempts students repeating courses to fulfill University of California or California State University transfer requirements, such as performing arts students who need to take theater classes each semester. It also exempts student-athletes taking courses for intercollegiate competition and those who need to repeat professional courses mandated by law.

The board also initially approved policies that starting in 2014 would give enrollment priority to students who establish an education plan, participate in orientation, take assessment tests and have not accumulated more than 100 units. The changes are designed to move students through the community college system on a quicker pace, though some critics have raised concerns that some less-prepared students will fall through the cracks. We wrote about the proposal in January.

In a statement, Chancellor Jack Scott said the changes will "ensure the system is intelligently rationing classes at a time of scarce resources to provide more students with the opportunity to achieve their goals on time."

The board will take a final vote on prioritizing enrollment in September.

Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association filed its own appeal today challenging newly enacted budget legislation that gives Gov. Jerry Brown's tax initiative the top spot on the November ballot.

The group believes Assembly Bill 1499 violates the constitution by changing the ballot order through a majority-vote budget bill, said the group's president, Jon Coupal. By using budget legislation, Democrats were able to change the ballot priority now rather than next year - an expedited schedule that normally would require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature.

"I think the broader issue here is of the electoral process, and this bill was designed to give one specific measure preference on the ballot," said Coupal, part of a coalition fighting Brown's tax initiative. "I think voters are going to react very negatively to that, no matter how one views additional tax hikes."

HJTA has asked California's 3rd District Court of Appeal to stop the Secretary of State from assigning numbers to initiatives, which could occur as soon as today. A Sacramento Superior Court judge delayed the ballot numbering earlier this month after a tax initiative campaign backed by wealthy civil rights attorney Molly Munger alleged that improprieties had occurred in the signature gathering process and that AB 1499 was unconstitutional.

A separate judge this morning rejected Munger's challenge, though he did not consider the constitutional question after lawyers on both sides focused on the signature verification process. Munger's "Our Children, Our Future" campaign declined to appeal.

If the HJTA suit proceeds, it could have implications beyond the November ballot by potentially narrowing the types of changes that state leaders can pass on a majority vote.

Brown tax initiative spokesman Dan Newman responded in an email, "Anti-education extremists will do everything possible to defeat this Initiative, but the court has spoken and voters are ready to do the right thing for our schools, public safety, and budget."

It isn't surprising to see the Sacramento County Republican Central Committee write a big check to Peter Tateishi's Assembly campaign.

The Carmichael Republican is running in the 8th Assembly District, a local seat that's expected to be one of November's most competitive legislative contests.

But the Sacramento County GOP, which contributed $30,000 to the campaign, isn't the only Republican central committee sending money Tateishi's way.

His campaign committee reported receiving $70,000 from the Republican Party of San Luis Obispo County over the weekend.

Unlike candidate-controlled accounts, party central committees are not subject to campaign contribution limits under state law. That means they can accept large contributions and give state candidates sums greater than the $7,800-per-election cycle cap set for individual donors.

Campaign finance filings show that the San Luis Obispo central committee, which also recently gave $100,000 to a Republican running for a Riverside County Assembly seat, has received major contributions from the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, BNSF Railway Company, the California Apartment Association Political Action Committee and Time Warner Cable, since June 1.

A representative for the county party, which received the donations through a committee called the California Republican Leadership Fund, was not immediately available for comment.

Tateishi is running against Democrat Ken Cooley, a Rancho Cordova councilman, for the open seat. Democrats have a less than one percent voter registration advantage over Republicans in the newly drawn district.

A Sacramento judge ruled this morning that election officials appropriately verified signatures for the November ballot, a decision that should allow Gov. Jerry Brown's tax initiative to take the top spot unless opponents file another challenge today.

Attorneys for wealthy civil rights lawyer Molly Munger argued today that Los Angeles County should have alerted the California Secretary of State's Office immediately when her initiative qualified, rather than waiting to include her measure in a group with three other proposals, including Brown's. But Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael P. Kenny determined that the county did nothing wrong.

Munger's campaign announced this afternoon it would not appeal the ruling. But Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, said he is considering a separate appeal that focuses on whether Brown and lawmakers illegally passed a majority-vote bill to move the governor's measure to the top of the November ballot, an issue that was barely mentioned in this morning's hearing.

"The governor's initiative leapfrogged above ours, which gave his initiative an unfair advantage," said Nathan Ballard, spokesman for the Munger initiative. "Look, the deck may be stacked against us, but we've got a good ballot measure here that's actually going to help California schools."

Dan Newman, a spokesman for the Brown tax initiative, responded in an e-mail, "The Court rightly rejected this frivolous lawsuit. Now it's time for the Munger-Jarvis coalition to cease its scorched-earth attack on the electoral process."

An upcoming U.S. House of Representatives vote to repeal the federal health care law is fueling a new round of political ads in a heated East Sacramento County congressional race.

House Republicans announced plans for vote shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the 2010 law backed by President Barack Obama. The Wednesday vote is seen largely as a political maneuver meant to energize voters opposed to the law, as any effort to repeal the health care overhaul has no chance of passing the Democrat-controlled Senate.

But supporters of the law are also seeking to capitalize on the effort in the 7th Congressional District, where Democrat Ami Bera is challenging Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Gold River, for the second time.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee launched a series of robocalls to independent voters last week, alleging that the Gold River Republican "wants to put insurance companies back in charge of our health care" by getting rid of the law. It followed up this week with a paid Web ad on YouTube highlighting provisions mandating preventative care and coverage for preexisting conditions that would be eliminated if that law is repealed.

Meanwhile, the American Action Network, a nonprofit advocacy group that does not have to disclose its donors, announced that it is sending voters in the district a mail piece urging Lungren to continue to fight for repeal. The group, which is spending $1.2 million on an "issue advocacy" campaign calling for repeal across the country, also ran an ad in Sunday's edition of The Sacramento Bee.

"The Supreme Court has upheld Obamacare. Congress has only one option: Repeal the President's government takeover of your healthcare," read both pieces, which contend the law will lead to new taxes and cuts to Medicare.

Dan Walters questions whether California's "water wars" will ever end.

Have a question you'd like Dan to answer? Post it on our Facebook page.

See other Dan Walters Daily clips here.

VIDEO: Dan Walters, in today's report, asks: Will California's "water wars" ever end?

Molly Munger's lawsuit challenging the new ballot-ordering law for propositions comes up for a hearing at 9 a.m. today in Sacramento Superior Court.

Munger's lawyers asked to delay the hearing until July 18 but weren't successful, Kevin Yamamura reported in this post last Friday.

Will the proposition numbers for the 11 measures on the Nov. 6 ballot be soon to follow?

Speaking of propositions, the Secretary of State's Office is looking for a few good arguments.

Californians who want to submit arguments for or against the November measures have until 5 p.m. Tuesday to get them to that office. They'll be considered for the state's official voter guide.

Official proponents get priority. Next up are what a news release calls "bona fide citizen associations" and then individuals. Arguments have a 500-word limit.

You can hand-deliver the double-spaced documents to the Elections Division, 1500 11th St., fifth floor, in Sacramento. They may also be faxed to (916) 653-3214 or emailed to VIGarguments@sos.ca.gov. If faxed or emailed, the originals must be received within 72 hours.

Rebuttals have their own deadline of July 19 at 5 p.m. Their limit is 250 words.