AgdaPkt 2003-12-01 - Laserfiche WebLink

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qA 8 THE LOCAL TAXPAYERS AND PUBLIC SAFETY PROTECTION ACT SECTION ONE Short Title. These amendments to the California Constitution shall be known and may be cited as the LOCAL TAXPAYERS AND PUBLIC SAFETY PROTECTION ACT. SECTION TWO. Findings and Purposes (a) The People of the State of California find that restoring local control over local tax dollars is vital to insure that local tax dollars are used to provide critical local services including police, fire, emergency and trauma care, public health, libraries, criminal justice, and road and street maintenance. Reliable funding for these services is essential for the security, well-being and quality of life of all Californians. (b) For many years, the Legislature has taken away local tax dollars used by local governments so that the State could control those local tax dollars. In fact, the Legislature has been taking away billions of local tax dollars each year, forcing local governments to either raise local fees or taxes to maintain services, or cut back on critically needed local services. (c) The Legislature's diversion of local tax dollars from local governments harms local governments' ability to provide such specific services as police, fire, emergency and trauma care, public health, libraries, criminal justice, and road and street maintenance. (d) In recognition of the harm caused by diversion of local tax dollars and the importance placed on voter control of major decisions concerning government finance, and consistent with existing provisions of the California Constitution that give the people the right to vote on fiscal changes, the People of the State of Califor- nia want the right to vote upon actions by the State government that take local tax dollars from local govem- ments. (e) The Local Taxpayers and Public Safety Protection Act is designed to insure that the People of the State of California shall have the right to approve or reject the actions of state government to take away local revenues that fund vitally needed local services. (f) The Local Taxpayers and Public Safety Protection Act strengthens the requirement that if the State mandates local governments to implement new or expanded programs, then the State shall reimburse local govemments for the cost of those programs. (g) The Local Taxpayers and Public Safety Protection Act does not amend or modify the School Funding Initiative, Proposition 98 (Article XVI, section 8 of the California Constitution). (h) Therefore, the People declare that the purposes of this Act are to: (1) require voter approval before the Legislature removes local tax dollars from the control of PAGE 8 /PRIORITY FOCUS Visit the League's Official Web Site-- www.cacities.org