What is the most important bill your local jurisdiction needs a vote on?

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by honeychile

Just yesterday, there was a news article on Yahoo about the use of fat cells to develop into brain cells. I knew I should have copied it! When you think of the amount of liposuction going on (or should be done), you could have enough fat cells for several Einsteins!

And DS, FWIW, we've had slots here for little over a year. The rise in the number of compulsive gamblers has gone through the roof in that time.

couldn't find that article either but studies have been going on for a LOoooonnnnng while....


As far as slots are...look at it like this,,,it is money coming from 2 ends...you spend it to play and then your insurance spends it to wean you from playing....

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

Is it a proposition (offered for a vote from the legislature), or an initiative (offered for a vote from private citizens)?

We always have plenty of interesting things on our ballots up here, but this election is a big one for us. Not only are we voting for president and governor (the same two candidates that were only separated by about 150 votes six years ago), but we're also voting on a "Death with Dignity" initiative similar to what Oregon has. There's also an initiative from a guy who's made it his mission to take down any tax in our state.

Oh, and we had a trapping initiative or proposition several years ago in Washington. Most types of trapping are illegal now here.

This comes from the legislature. We do have the initiative petition, but we don't have any of those this time 'round.

The next ballot should be interesting. We have something called the "HOPE" Act. Something which would force the legislature to appropriate about $1,100+more per pupil in our schools than they presently are, i.e., raise funding from ~$6,900 per student to the regional average which rings up at ~$8,000 per student.

That, coupled with a current on-the-books part of the Oklahoma Constitution which requires a vote of the people to raise taxes should lead our state government into instant fiscal disaster.

Should be fun to watch!

[Benzgirl]

Issue 6 - A casino down by Dayton -- can't tell which side is lying
Issue 5 - Limiting how much interest Pay Day lenders can charge -- VOTE YES, OHIOANS!!!!

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by Benzgirl

Issue 6 - A casino down by Dayton -- can't tell which side is lying
Issue 5 - Limiting how much interest Pay Day lenders can charge -- VOTE YES, OHIOANS!!!!

I'm curious about this casino prop/initiative. What is it they're asking the voters to decide? We have sooo many casinos here due to all of the indian reservations, but I've never seen anything up for vote on them before.

[CrackerBarrel]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

I'm curious about this casino prop/initiative. What is it they're asking the voters to decide? We have sooo many casinos here due to all of the indian reservations, but I've never seen anything up for vote on them before.

Indian casinos are - I think - legal everywhere since they are considered to be on land belonging to the Indian nation and not technically part of the state. To have casinos on non-Indian land you have to either legalize casino-style gambling in your state overall or pass an exception for that specific place (or type of place if you're voting to allow slot machines at horse/dog tracks or something).

[Kevin]

CB: I believe that for Indian Casinos to be legal, the tribes have to compact with the state. While the states don't usually exercise direct regulatory authority, they usually have as a contractual obligation of the compact the payment of certain taxes and fees (which is fair because the casinos take a helluvalot of infrastructure to get going.

I know that there's at least one casino in southern Oklahoma which is currently raking in huge profits because Texas hasn't compacted with its tribes.

Another interesting thing the tribes can do is buy regular land, i.e., a downtown city block, and deed it into a certain kind of trust administered by the feds. That has the effect of making that land the same as tribal land.

In Oklahoma City right now, a landless tribe, the Shawnee I think, bought a very well-situated piece of land right off of I-35, between Edmond and Oklahoma City (Edmond, being a suburb to the north of OKC, generally a pretty well-off place). They've been trying to deed that land into a trust so that they can build a HUGE resort/casino, complete with a performance hall, bowling alley, casinos, hotel, etc. Very controversial stuff.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

In Florida, there's a proposition to define marriage as existing between one man and one woman. There's also another initiative to allow the state to prevent illegal immigrants from owning or inheriting property.

Ooh, not that people weren't motivated to vote already, but both those are doing to drive people to the polls. The first always gets the evangelicals out.

It will be interesting to see how they go with what's expected to be a big turn out. Maybe it will moderate the vote.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by Kevin

I think we have about the most worthless Constitutional Amendment I've ever seen up on the ballot this go-round.

Section 36. A. All citizens of this state shall have an inherent right to engage in hunting, trapping, fishing, and taking game and fish, free of state laws which explicitly or implicitly effectively prohibit the ability of citizens to engage in such activities. Hunting, trapping, fishing and the taking of game and fish are a valued part of our heritage and will forever be preserved for the people. The Wildlife Conservation Commission shall be vested with the power and authority to approve methods, practices and procedures for hunting, trapping, fishing and the taking of game and fish.
B. Nothing in this section shall:
1. Be construed to prohibit reasonable regulation of the hunting, trapping, fishing and taking of game and fish; or
2. Operate to repeal or invalidate any laws or rules in existence on the effective date of its adoption.

Could they at least name this amendment after the SNL Mother-humping Moose?

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by CrackerBarrel

Indian casinos are - I think - legal everywhere since they are considered to be on land belonging to the Indian nation and not technically part of the state. To have casinos on non-Indian land you have to either legalize casino-style gambling in your state overall or pass an exception for that specific place (or type of place if you're voting to allow slot machines at horse/dog tracks or something).

You'd probably have to come up here to understand, but we've got casinos right next to the freeways in all the major metropolitan areas and in all the major cities' limits. The tribes run them, but as far as I know, the land is no longer owned by the tribes. Some are little casinos, some are big resort casinos.

[Scandia]

Like in many other places, there is a marriage protection amendment. I plan to vote NO on it.

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

couldn't find that article either but studies have been going on for a LOoooonnnnng while....

Found it! Stem Cells From Fat Create Beating Heart Cells.

"Melbourne scientists recently discovered that stem cells isolated from human fat could be made to turn into beating heart muscle cells when cultured with rat heart cells...."

[RaggedyAnn]

Originally Posted by CrackerBarrel

Indian casinos are - I think - legal everywhere since they are considered to be on land belonging to the Indian nation and not technically part of the state.

That is incorrect. The Narragansett Indian Tribe can't open up a casino on their land.