Along with all the attention focused on choosing the next president on Nov. 7 came the less dramatic task of voting on the public referendums found on 42 state ballots. In at least eight states, those initiative included issues of importance to trucking and transportation.
Proposition 35 in California should benefit trucking by allowing the state to speed along road projects and repairs by using outside contractors, according to the California Trucking Association.
Another initiative, this one in Florida, could have the opposite effect. An amendment to the Florida Constitution threatens to undermine the state highway trust fund used to build and improve roads because it will let officials divert some of that money to a high-speed monorail project, said the Florida Trucking Association. New Jersey and New York residents, both faced with $3.8 billion transportation bond initiatives, went in opposite directions. New Jersey voters passed their funding measure, while New York voters defeated theirs.
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In Oregon, all three measures that would have affected the transportation industry were defeated. Measure 2 would have empowered citizens who wanted to challenge administrative regulations passed by state agencies to collect 10,000 signatures and kick the regulation back to the state legislature for review. Measure 92 would have amended the state constitution to prohibit routine payroll deductions from union members for union PACs. And Measure 93 would have required any proposals for new taxes to be put up for a citizens’ vote.
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