Pubdate: Mon, 02 Nov 2015
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Authors: Jacob Gershman and Mark Peters

Voters Weigh Taxes, Wages And Legalizing Pot

Ohio's Ballot Initiative on Marijuana, If It Passes, Would Make It 
the Largest State by Population to Allow Recreational Use of the Drug

Voters across the country are considering ballot measures on Tuesday 
on a range of contentious issues from tax hikes and hunting rights, 
to minimum wage increases, campaign finance and marijuana legalization.

In Mississippi, voters are deciding on a constitutional amendment 
opposed by Republican leaders that would allow residents to sue over 
school-spending shortfalls and give courts more say over public 
education funding.

Residents in Washington state are weighing an antitax measure 
intended to pressure lawmakers into giving voters more say over tax 
increases. The ballot measure would authorize billions of dollars in 
sales-tax cuts unless lawmakers advance a plan to give voters more 
say over tax increases in the future.

A municipal ballot measure in Tacoma Wash., would raise the minimum 
wage for most businesses in the city to $15 an hour, one of the 
highest in the nation. The current rate is $9.47. Unlike the $15 wage 
approved by Seattle last year, which is fully phased in by 2017, 
Tacoma's wage hike would take effect immediately under a voter 
initiative. Another competing measure would gradually raise the wage 
floor to $12 an hour by January 2018. Both would authorize inflation 
adjustments.

The city of Fircrest in Pierce County, the last "dry"  municipality 
in Washington, is voting on whether to repeal a Prohibition-era law 
restricting food-and-drink establishments from serving alcoholic 
beverages for on-premise consumption.

Voters in Maine are deciding whether to expand the state's public 
campaign-financing system by requiring the state to put an additional 
$1 million into a fund for participating state candidates and pay for 
the increase by eliminating corporate tax breaks. The so-called 
"Clean Elections"  initiative would also increase penalties for 
campaign-finance violations. The idea, whose supporters say would 
create a fairer electoral process, was denounced by the state's 
Republican governor, Paul LePage, who has called taxpayer-funded 
political campaigns "welfare for politicians"  and a "scam."

In Texas, a proposal to enshrine the right to hunt in the state 
constitution will go before voters. Proponents say it would protect 
the hunting industry from restrictions on when and what they can 
hunt, while others have questioned why hunting warrants such special 
constitutional recognition.

Another measure before Texas voters would repeal a requirement that 
statewide-elected officials reside in the state capital of Austin.

Ohio voters are weighing a marijuana legalization initiative. If it 
passes, the state would be the fifth and largest state by population 
to legalize recreational marijuana and the first state to do so 
without previously legalizing medical marijuana. The other states 
where pot is legal are Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska, along 
with the District of Columbia.

Ohio's proposal is controversial even among supporters of marijuana 
legalization because of how it lets a select few cultivators control 
the market in the state. Recent polls show enough support for the 
measure to pass, although the vote is likely to be close. A Kent 
State University survey released last month showed 56% of Ohio voters 
polled support the amendment.

Supporters collected hundreds of thousands of signature to force the 
statewide vote. They argue marijuana laws are a waste of money and 
lead to unnecessary penalties, from jail time to the loss of 
professional licenses. Legalization could also bring in hundreds of 
millions of dollars in new state tax revenue, they say.

ResponsibleOhio, which is spearheading the effort to legalize the 
drug, expects to spend more than $20 million on its campaign, 
including gathering signatures, television advertisements and a 
mascot named "Buddie"  whose head is a marijuana plant bud. It's 
backed by investors in companies that would receive the first 
commercial licenses to grow the drug in Ohio.

Elected officials including Gov. John Kasich and groups from the Ohio 
Chamber of Commerce to the National Association for the Advancement 
of Colored People are lining up against the measure.

"Sending mixed signals to kids about drugs is a disaster,"  said Mr. 
Kasich, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, 
during a debate last week among candidates.

Further complicating the issue is a decision by state lawmakers to 
put an additional constitutional amendment on Tuesday's ballot 
preventing the establishment of monopolies through the statewide 
ballot process. Although that measure has been discussed in recent 
years, lawmakers worked to ensure it was on the ballot in time for 
the marijuana vote.

Since the marijuana measure gives a select group of landowners the 
exclusive right to grow the drug, passage of the antimonopoly 
amendment could derail it. So if both measures pass Tuesday, a legal 
battle is expected.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom