Advocates go to ballot box to boost schools, services

Trying to funnel money toward long-starved programs, ballot questions in several states hope to persuade voters to bypass reluctant lawmakers and free up cash for emergency medical care, education, services for the poor and more.

The uptick in voter initiatives comes after three years of economic straits. Most states now report an improving economy and healthy revenue, but advocates for many causes say spending, especially for social services, hasn't kept up.

"These programs, they've been sacrificed for the states' budget woes," said Mike Melanson, campaign manager for a Colorado effort to raise tobacco taxes by 64 cents per pack, with the money to be devoted to poor children's health care.

Washington state voters could decide to raise the state's sales tax by 1 cent per dollar to pay for K-12 education. Initiative drives in California hope to make the state spend more on mental health programs, emergency hospital care, and children's hospitals.

Other ballot questions that would increase spending are brewing in Arkansas, Nevada, Oklahoma and Utah.

The turn to the ballot box, among the 23 states that allow voter initiatives, doesn't surprise state leaders. The improving economy does ease pressures, they say, but it also raises unrealistic hopes among advocates.

For states, the economic downturn of 2001 pushed revenue off a cliff. After the late 1990s boom, state spending grew only 1.3 percent in fiscal 2002 and 0.6 percent in 2003, according to the National Governors Association.

Spending is rising faster now, though at just a fraction of the 6.2 percent average of the past 25 years -- up 2.8 percent in the fiscal year that ends this month, and an estimated 2.8 percent next year.

Tax revenue, however, is showing signs of healthy growth -- up 5.5 percent from the year before for the fiscal quarter that ended in March, after adjusting for inflation and tax changes, according to the Rockefeller Institute in Albany.

But stronger revenue isn't translating into cash for programs that need it, at least in the eyes of supporters.

"There's a real inability to have any forward progress ... (lawmakers) are fearful of doing anything major," said Natalie Reber, working on the Washington state initiative for primary education. "We kind of felt like we were pushed up against the wall."

Washington state in particular has had bruising fights over taxing and spending, with voters in past years approving initiatives that increased salaries for teachers on one hand, while also approving initiatives limiting tax increases.

A similar squeeze has left Colorado in a fix, as voter-approved limits on spending and taxes have been strained by another voter-approved mandate to increase student spending as inflation rises.

"It's a double whammy," Melanson said. "Whenever there's a budget crunch, it's these health programs that are the first on the cutting block."

Some groups in Colorado are considering another initiative to ease the spending limits.

Dramatic tax increases have been passed in some states, as leaders argue it's time to pull back the pendulum after years of tax cuts.

New Jersey raised taxes on the wealthiest; Virginia, with a coalition of Republicans and a Democratic governor, raised taxes by more than $1 billion; others, like Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, have proposed sweeping tax restructuring that would lower property taxes by expanding gambling.

Still, anti-tax sentiment hasn't subsided. Initiatives in Florida, Nevada and South Dakota, among others, aim to cut taxes. And voters in recent years have forcefully rejected big-dollar tax increases in Alabama and Oregon.

Perhaps the balance has shifted after years of complaints that government services have withered, said Kristina Wilfore, executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center in Washington.

"Have (voters) felt the pain enough to eat their peas?" she said. "We'll see."

Tax cuts are always an easier sell than higher taxes, said Varelli. "Everyone's a closet conservative when it comes to raising taxes. The majority of folks, when it comes time to vote on taking money out of their paycheck, are going to say no."

------

On the Net:

Initiative and Referendum Institute: http://www.iandrinstitute.org/

Ballot Initiative Strategy Center: http://www.ballot.org/