Reply #14: Court doesn't tip hand on voting-rights case [View All]

Monterey Herald

Posted on Fri, Jun. 23, 2006

Ruling to have effect on General Plan Initiative
By CLAUDIA MELƒNDEZ SALINAS
Herald Salinas Bureau
SAN FRANCISCO - On the day the House of Representatives postponed renewal of the Voting Rights Act, the landmark 1965 law that protected minority voters against discrimination, a full panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals debated whether the law applies to recall petitions.

Thirteen members of the 9th Circuit Court heard a case that could decide whether recall petitions -- and perhaps referendums and initiatives -- have to be translated into languages other than English in California before they are circulated for signatures.

A full entourage of Monterey County slow-growth proponents was on hand to witness the hearing. LandWatch, a land-use watchdog nonprofit in Monterey County, spearheaded the gathering of signatures for two anti-growth measures and has been hoping for a quick ruling so the measures can be placed on the November ballot.

One of those measures, the Community General Plan Initiative, would enact an alternative general plan allowing less development than the plan county supervisors hope to approve by early next year.

That initiative was to be on the June ballot but was rejected by county supervisors in light of the voting rights case moving through the courts. At issue was LandWatch's failure to circulate referendum materials in Spanish.

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/local/14884398.htm