By Tim Redmond : 48hills – excerpt
EXCLUSIVE: Dramatic increase in fees would help big-money and undermine grassroots groups. It goes before the supes Wednesday.
Mayor Daniel Lurie is moving to increase by a factor of five the cost of putting an argument in the ballot handbook, undermining the most affordable way for grassroots campaigns to reach voters.
Under his legislation, which no local news media has covered, the cost of an argument would increase from $200 and $2 a word to $1,000 and $10 a word by 2030. That would mean a 200-word ballot argument that now costs $600 would cost $3,000.
Five ballot arguments, a modest number for a lot of campaigns, would cost $15,000—more than many community-based campaigns could afford.
That would give big-money operations even more clout in San Francisco.
The measure comes before the Budget and Appropriations Committee Wednesday/17 at 1:30 pm… (more)
At the June GA meeting CSFN members voted to approve a letter objecting to this action. The letter sent to the Budget and Appropriations Committee. re: Ordinances 260603 & 260604.
CSFN Oppose Ballot Fee Increase