The Riverside Press-Enterprise reports that a proposed ballot initiative to require annual testing of lawmakers for drugs and “habitual use of alcohol” is well short of the nearly 434,000 signatures it needs by Thursday’s deadline to qualify for the 2010 ballot.
“We’re substantially way off the path,” said Gary Ellis, of Lake Arrowhead. Ellis said he and other supporters have gathered about 100,000 signatures since mid-July, when his initiative drew headlines and attention on KFI-AM’s “John and Ken” radio show.
Under the proposal, lawmakers who test positive would need to complete a substance-abuse program before resuming their legislative duties. A second positive would mean dismissal from the Legislature.
Ellis said he has no proof of chronic substance abuse among the Legislature’s 120 members, the PE reports. Given their chronic inability to balance the state budget and enact meaningful drug-law reforms, however, this observer is left to wonder what more proof is needed.
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