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On July 23, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors on a 4-1 vote accepted the certification of the Empower Voters to Make Land Use Decisions Initiative and placed it on the ballot for the Nov. 5 election. The ballot question was unchanged and the opposing vote was Supervisor Bea Gonzales.
The question will read, “Shall an initiative be adopted to amend the County General Plan to require voter approval before re-designating (changing) Agricultural, Rural or Rangeland to other uses, and to remove the Commercial Regional Designation from four Highway 101 nodes?”
Though the measure and question were previously placed on the ballot, the board rescinded its first approval in order to have county counsel review the elections code 9111 report for the initiative and include findings in the ballot question. Supervisors Kollin Kosmicki and Dom Zanger opposed rescinding the board’s decision and changing the ballot question.
Supervisor Angela Curro, who motioned to rescind the first vote, argued the ballot question needed to address the potential fiscal impact to the county. The ballot question passed on July 25 was unchanged.
“I want to have a conversation with this board about should we or shouldn’t be completely transparent and forward thinking about how this initiative may impact our county and revenue that we may not get,” she said.
However, County Counsel David Prentice said he believed it was unlawful to include the fiscal impact on the ballot question given that the initiative statute mandates that the question be in language that does not reveal prejudice or be argumentative.
“What I’ve come down to is that nine times out of 10, the judge is going to rule that including the fiscal impact language would be a prejudicial argument in a ballot measure and therefore unlawful,” Prentice said. “You can always take your chances, board.”
Zanger, whose family owns Casa De Fruta on Pacheco Pass in Santa Clara County, reiterated that the ballot question was a fair representation of the initiative that did not need more information or “auxiliary statistics.”
“I think it was clear and understandable,” he said.
Gonzales said it was important for the voters to have all the facts when making the decision. She said that included the fiscal impact and informing voters the measure does not have an expiration date.
“I just feel like those two areas need to be in the question itself,” she said. “I’m not happy with this ballot question as is.”
Eight community members spoke against supervisors changing the question and five spoke against the initiative.
This is essentially the second time voters will decide on this issue. Measure Q, a similar initiative put forward by the same group of proponents in 2022, failed, with 56.39% of voters rejecting it.
A fiscal impact report on the initiative by the San Benito County Auditor-Controller’s office will be included in the voter’s guide.
Auditor-Controller Joe Paul Gonzalez said the fiscal impact report must include five elements.
- Compliance with local, state and federal regulations
- An estimate of any increase/decrease in revenues to the county
- An estimate of any increase/decrease in costs to the county, including administrative and operations expenses
- An analysis of the long-term financial effects on the county’s budget and financial health
- A clear explanation of the methodology used to calculate the fiscal impacts
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