Outcomes: Ballot Initiatives

Several ballot initiatives that affect technology-based economic development were approved by voters around the country on Tuesday, including:

• A $3.1 billion bond issue to support capital improvements at North Carolina’s community colleges, colleges, and universities. The issue is the largest single borrowing package in state history.
• A sales tax increase in Arizona from which an estimated $55 million would be directed to the Board of Regents to establish a New Economy Initiative Fund program for investments in research and technology and to the Community College Board to create a Workforce Development Initiative Fund. Most of the proceeds will go to K-12 education to increase teacher pay, reduce class size, and build new schools.
• Approval to establish lotteries in Arkansas and South Carolina. Proceeds from Arkansas’ lottery will go to grants to qualified high school graduates for post-secondary education, and South Carolina’s proceeds will be directed to a Education Lottery Account.
• An initiative in Washington that would increase education spending. The initiative is expected to generate more money for public schools by redirecting a portion of state property-tax revenues, the emergency-reserve fund, and lottery proceeds. State funding for school operations increased by more than $1.8 billion over the next six years.
• The use of tobacco settlement funds were approved in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Under the Arkansas initiative, some of the funds will be used for construction of biosciences research buildings at two universities and approximately $13 million per year for the Arkansas Biosciences Institute. A portion of the Oklahoma funds will pay for research into tobacco-related illnesses.

Measures that failed included:

• Initiatives in Alaska and Oregon that would have limited state and local authority to impose or increase taxes. The initiatives could have created budget crises at the state level.
• A proposal in Louisiana that was backed by the governor to privatize the Louisiana Department of Economic Development.
• A constitutional amendment in Nevada that would have permitted the state to loan, grant, and invest money to businesses.
• A proposal in Colorado that would have earmarked $50 million in excess tax revenues for math and science and science programs.
• Two different spending plans for Oregon’s tobacco settlement funds. One measure would have used a portion of the funds for medical research, while the other would have used the fund’s investment earnings to allow the Oregon Health Sciences University to recruit top scientists and researchers.