El Dorado asks court to rule proposed ballot initiative invalid

El Dorado County officials have filed a complaint with their Superior Court over a proposed ballot initiative they believe should be ruled as invalid. The filing occurred Feb. 26 and county officials have now issued a press release detailing their concerns. The proposed initiative would limit the Board of Supervisors' constitutional discretion to determine employee compensation. The proposed initiative was filed with the County Elections office on Feb. 13 to begin the process of circulating the initiative for placement on the ballot. Under state law, County Counsel must review and prepare the ballot Title and Summary within 15 days of the submittal of the proposed initiative. Concerned that the proposed initiative unconstitutionally infringes on the board's exclusive authority to set employee compensation, the County Counsel's Office attempted to informally resolve the issue with the measure's proponents. County officials said their intent was to avoid expending considerable and unnecessary time and resources in the circulation of a potentially unconstitutional and invalid initiative that would be misleading to the public and cause voter confusion. "We believe case law and other legal authority clearly demonstrates this is invalid under the California Constitution and had hoped to resolve this matter informally with the proponents, but without their voluntary withdrawal of the petition, we are left with no choice than to ask the Court to clarify whether the proposed initiative is valid and defer to its ruling and proceed accordingly," said Janeth SanPedro, Assistant County Counsel. Under these circumstances, state law requires the county to file a complaint for declaratory relief naming the proponents of the initiative as defendants.