cannabisnews.com: Pot, Tax Likely Up for Vote 





Pot, Tax Likely Up for Vote 
Posted by FoM on January 08, 2000 at 08:58:31 PT
By S.J. Komarnitsky, Daily News Reporter 
Source: Anchorage Daily News
Along with picking a new president this fall, Alaska voters will likely face two other big questions - whether to legalize marijuana and cap property taxes. Sponsors of two statewide initiatives to do just that handed in petitions carrying more than 40,000 signatures each this week to state elections officials. That's nearly double the 22,716 signatures required to put the measures on the Nov. 7 ballot. 
State officials now have 60 days to certify that the signatures are from registered voters. Both proposals are likely to generate heated battles if they do end up on the ballot. The proposal to cap property taxes has already elicited dire warnings from government officials, tax collectors and others, including the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce. They say it will decimate municipal budgets and services. The measure would cap taxes at 10 mills, or $10 for every $1,000 of property owned. The mill rate for the Anchorage Bowl now ranges from 12 to 18 mills, depending on what service area the property is in. Anchorage officials have estimated the cap would cost the city at least $80 million a year. But the measure has been an easy sell, according to sponsors, who have pitched the cap as a way to keep housing costs low and trim government. "Only a handful of services are totally essential - water and sewer and the roads," said Uwe Kalenka, an Anchorage restaurant manager and the main sponsor of the initiative. "All the rest, if you look at it, are special interest groups." The measure to legalize marijuana and other hemp products will also be fodder for private arguments and public debates, said Len Karpinski, a co-sponsor and head of the state Libertarian Party. The measure would legalize the use of marijuana for adults, regulating it like alcoholic beverages. It would allow doctors to prescribe it for medicinal use, and it would give amnesty to those convicted of past marijuana crimes. "It would let adults behave like adults and let police focus on the real bad crime," Karpinski said. Still, he said, "If it wins, it will be a squeaker." Alaska voters in 1990, by 55 percent to 45 percent, made marijuana possession a crime. Supporters of a third initiative, to raise the state's minimum wage by more than a dollar to $6.75 by the beginning of next year and require future adjustments for inflation, were also hoping to make the Monday deadline for the November election. "It's in a gray area right now," said Megan Collie, who was counting signatures Friday. "We're not absolutely sure we made it, but we're hoping." The state's current minimum wage is $5.65. Sponsors of the initiative to raise it include Mano Frey, AFL-CIO labor leader; Julie Kitka, president of the Alaska Federation of Natives; and Jim Sampson, a former Fairbanks North Star Borough mayor. The three measures were just a few of many initiatives being circulated this past year and aimed for the November ballot. Three others will not make the ballot. An initiative to change how votes are counted in Alaska and another one to legalize personal possession and medicinal use of marijuanado not have enough signatures to be submitted, according to sponsors. A proposal to more than quadruple state alcoholic beverage taxes also lacks enough signatures, co-sponsor Jim Crary of Anchorage said Friday. For more information on the petitions or their status, check the Division of Elections web site at:http://www.gov.state.ak.us/ltgov/elections/ * Reporter S.J. Komarnitsky can be reached at skomarnitsky adn.com Published: Saturday, January 8, 2000 Copyright © 1999 The Anchorage Daily News Related Article & Web Sites:Alaska's Libertarian Partyhttp://www.alaska-libertarian.org/State of Alaska Division of Electionshttp://www.gov.state.ak.us/ltgov/elections/Capitalists for Cannabis - 9/29/99http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread3059.shtml
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