City Council, 11-2, authorized ballot language to be drawn up for a measure that would be placed before voters Feb. 5, the same day as the California presidential primary. San Fernando Valley Councilmen Zine & Smith were the only ones to vote no on the tax.
The city currently gets $270M from the 10% phone tax on cell and land lines and wants residents to continue paying the tax.
The council will declare an "emergency" on Oct 17th, which would put the tax on the ballot while complying with Proposition 218, a 1996 state initiative that governs municipal tax increases. That measure prohibits the city from taking a tax to voters before a regularly scheduled municipal election unless it declares an emergency. For Los Angeles, the next regular election will not come until 2009. Anti-Tax organizations disagree with the "emergency"designation saying that it applies to earthquakes, etc.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tax4oct04,1,5956849.story
