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INITIATIVE Q&A from page 3 • • • • • • • • our local tax dollars. This measure would let the voters have the final say on proposed actions by the State Legislature that would further reduce local government funding. It would protect the vital local services that California residents rely on each and every day – such as public safety and emergency care, roads, libraries, parks and transportation – by requiring voter approval before the State could reduce funding for local services or shift more costs for state programs to local governments. Why is this measure needed? For more than a decade, the California State Legislature has been taking away increasing amounts of local tax dollars that local govern- ments use to provide essential services like police and fire protection, emergency and public health care, roads, parks, libraries and water delivery. In fact, through good times and bad, the State has been taking away billions in local tax dollars each year — forcing local governments to either raise local fees or taxes to maintain services, or cut back on critically needed services. The system is broken. Voters must act now to protect local services by protecting local revenues from being taken by the State. . ............................... initiative, we expect to grow a broad and diverse coalition of public safety and health advocates, taxpayer and business groups, seniors, commu- nity leaders and others who all have an interest in supporting the voters' right to protect their local tax dollars and their local services. Will this measure prevent state fiscal reform efforts? No. In fact, a key element of State fiscal reform is drawing a clear line in the sand that prevents the State Legislature from using local revenues to solve its problems or as a means of increasing state spending at the expense of local services. Will this measure raise taxes? No. In fact, this measure will help decrease pressures for local fees and taxes by protecting local revenue sources from state legislative raids. Does this measure increase revenues to local governments? No. It simply prevents the State Legislature from further taking local government revenues without a vote of the people. How will the new Governor respond to this? When do you plan to put this on the ballot? How many signatures do you need to qualify? Officially, we need 598,105 valid signatures to qualify the measure for the November 2004 ballot. We plan to collect a far greater number of signa- tures to ensure it qualifies and that the voters are given the opportunity to protect their local tax dollars and protect funding for local public safety, health and other essential local services. Who supports this measure? The principal sponsors of the 2004 Local Taxpayers and Public Safety Protection Act are the League of California Cities, California State Asso- ciation of Counties and the California Special Districts Association. Now that we have filed the Don't you think you should first give him a chance to correct the fiscal problems of the state? First, we would like to thank the Governor -elect for his positive statements in the media and during his campaign and his pledge to protect local services. We look forward to working with Gover- nor Schwarzenegger to achieve his stated goal of protecting local governments and allowing local governments to provide the services that CA residents rely on every day. The fact is, however, the voters deserve to have the final say on state actions that will erode their local tax dollars and local services – no matter who is the governor and what the composi- tion of the legislature. Continued on Page 6 Visit the League's Official Web Site-- www.cacities.org PRIORITY FOCUS /PAGE 5 I-4-