The Santa Barbara County supervisors found themselves wrestling this Tuesday with an effort to save money by limiting increased ballot transparency called for by a new state law. It’s still not clear which side prevailed; eventually the supervisors agreed to kick the can down the road to June 27.
At issue is the $150,000 or more that county election officials say it will cost them to print the names of supporters and opponents of ballot initiatives in accordance with a new state law that went into effect this year. That law, however, offers local jurisdictions the option of opting out of this provision for locally originated ballot initiatives. For statewide ballot initiatives, however, there’s no opt-out option.
The supervisors were notified that are currently 26 possible statewide initiatives looking to get on the ballot. That number could be winnowed down to 10-12, according to Supervisor Das Williams.