Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Ballot Summary on California Marriage Amendment Changed

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080729/ballot-summary-on-cailf-marriage-amendment-changed.htm

[The Christian Post] 29 Jul 2008--The ballot summary to California's amendment to protect marriage has been rewritten.

The description to Proposition 8, known as the "California Marriage Protection Act," originally stated that the measure would amend the California Constitution "to provide that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

But the modified version, which will be published in the voter information guides this fall, describes the marriage initiative as amending the state Constitution to "eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry."

The original ballot summary appears in the second sentence of the revised description.

The new language also suggested a negative fiscal impact in the short term.

"Over the next few years, potential revenue loss, mainly sales taxes, totaling in the several tens of millions of dollars, to state and local governments. In the long run, likely little fiscal impact to state and local governments," reads the revised summary.

The old summary read: "The measure would have no fiscal effect on state or local governments. This is because there would be no change to the manner in which marriages are currently recognized by the state."

The secretary of state's office says that description was changed to reflect a May 15 California Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex "marriage," according to The Associated Press.

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