Judge Rewrites Summary of Proposed Gas Tax Repeal, Says Attorney General Misleading Public

After ordering AG to not mislead voters and prepare a “true and impartial” title and summary for the Repeal of the Gas Tax ballot initiative – judge decides to rewrite the title and summary himself

SACRAMENTO – On Tuesday, Assemblyman Travis Allen announced that Judge Timothy Frawley of the Sacramento Superior Court gave the final ruling in favor of Allen’s request to rewrite the title and summary for the Repeal of the Gas Tax ballot initiative in a “true and impartial” manner.

“This is a huge win for the people of California. It’s outrageous that the Attorney General intentionally tried to mislead California voters in an effort enforce Jerry Brown’s massive $52 billion gas tax,” said Assemblyman Travis Allen. “California voters will now see a new ballot title and statement that truly represents what this initiative will do — repeal Jerry Brown’s massively unpopular gas tax.”

Ballot title and summary as written by Judge Frawley:

“We are ready to hit the ground running,” stated Assemblyman Travis Allen. “With this new ballot title and summary, the Repeal the Gas Tax Initiative will be ready to begin collecting the 365,880 signatures needed to place the repeal on the November 2018 ballot.  Californians can learn more about the effort by visiting www.NoCAGasTax.com”, concluded Allen.

Highlights from the preliminary ruling:

“The court agrees with Petitioner that the Attorney General’s title and summary is confusing, misleading, and likely to create prejudice against the proposed measure.”

“The problem with the Attorney General’s title and summary is that an ordinary, reasonable elector, who is otherwise unfamiliar with the initiative, would not be able to discern what the initiative would do”.

“What the initiative would do is to repeal taxes and fees (legislation) expected to raise new revenues. But an ordinary voter reading the Attorney General’s title is highly unlikely to understand this. Rather, the ordinary voter would assume that the sole purpose of the measure is to eliminate (reduce) transportation funding. The title appears to be written to focus attention on the elimination of funding and avoid mentioning “taxes” and “fees.” This is misleading and is likely to create prejudice against the measure”.

“Petitioner’s [Travis Allen’s] proposal shows it is not difficult to write a summary of the initiative in clear and understandable language. And this does call into question why the Attorney General used the confusing language that he did”.

“To avoid misleading the voters and creating prejudice against the measure, the Attorney General must prepare a “true and impartial statement” that reasonably informs voters of the character and real purpose of the proposed initiative in clear and understandable language. The existing circulating title and summary fails this test.”

Source:
https://nocagastax.com/travis-allen-declares-victory-gas-tax-repeal-lawsuit-judge-rewrites-attorney-generals-misleading-ballot-title-summary/