Issues facing voters in November

Railroad -- A $9.95-billion bond issue to start construction of a bullet train line between Southern and Northern California.

Health -- A referendum to overturn a law requiring employers to provide healthcare insurance for uninsured workers.

Access -- A proposed constitutional amendment to guarantee the right of access to state and local government information.

Hospitals -- A $750-million bond issue for construction, expansion and equipping of children’s hospitals.

Mental health -- Levies a 1% tax on the income of millionaires to finance expanded mental health services.

Vote -- Establishes an open primary system for elections.

Local governments -- Requires voter approval any time the Legislature wants to reduce state funding to cities, counties and special districts.

Emergency -- Adds a 3% surcharge on telephone use to provide additional money for hospital emergency services and training.

Crime -- Amends the state’s “three strikes” law to require that a crime be a violent or serious felony in order to qualify as a strike and imposes more severe penalties for sexual crimes against children.

Business -- Limits a citizen’s right to sue under unfair business competition laws to situations in which the individual has suffered actual injury or financial loss due to an unfair practice.

Research -- Establishes a constitutional right to perform stem-cell research and authorizes a bond issue of up to $3 billion to finance research.

DNA -- Requires felons to provide a sample of their DNA for storage in a law enforcement database and authorizes local authorities to take such specimens from individuals arrested on suspicion of rape or murder.

Gambling -- Requires Indian tribes that own casinos to contribute 25% of their slot machine revenue to state and local governments. If they refuse, 11 card rooms and five horse-racing tracks would gain the right to 30,000 slots and would pay 33%, or roughly $1 billion a year, primarily to local government.

Gambling II -- Pushed by a Palm Springs Indian tribe, it would grant tribes unlimited casino expansion rights on their land. In return, tribes would pay the state 8.84% of their net profit.

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Source: California Secretary Of State

Los Angeles Times