Sen. Simitian postpones parcel tax initiative, tries another route Sen. Simitian postpones parcel tax initiative, tries another route (May 18, 2005)

By David Boyce

Almanac Staff Writer

State Senator Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, is temporarily giving up on a ballot initiative that would lower to 55 percent the current the two-thirds majority needed for voters to approve a school parcel tax.

Instead, he is seeking to achieve the same result via the state Legislature with Senate Bill SCA 8, which would recommend a constitutional amendment to the voters.

Last year, then Senate candidate Simitian had joined with Republican state Assembly candidate Steve Poizner and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings as co-chairs of the ballot initiative campaign.

"We're still looking at an initiative, but for the moment, it's on hold," Sen. Simitian told the Almanac. "Events have somewhat overtaken us with the larger array of very dramatic initiative measures that are being circulated. We sort of thought that we'd like to let the dust settle on some of them."

He said he would revisit the ballot initiative if budget negotiations this summer fail to substantially increase education funding and if SCA 8 fails.

Long shot

The legislative route is a long shot. He needs to get two-thirds of the legislators in each house to agree to SCA 8, which would put the proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot, This means he needs six Republican votes in the Assembly and two in the Senate, and that's not likely.

At a recent town meeting in Palo Alto, Sen. Simitian described Republican support as "precious little" and noted that at least one activist group has reminded Republican legislators that a vote for SCA 8 would be remembered when the next election rolls around.

"We can't do it without your communicating back to the governor and sending those letters to the editor," Sen. Simitian said at the town hall meeting.

Last year, Sen. Simitian proposed a similar constitutional amendment, ACA 4, which didn't get the necessary two-thirds vote in the Assembly. It was a party-line vote with 43 Democrats voting yes and 35 Republicans voting no.

A May 3 parcel-tax measure proposed by the Redwood City School District -- which includes about 700 homes in Atherton -- failed with a 61.63 percent majority voting for it.

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