STATE MEASURES: INDIAN GAMING INITIATIVE ON WINNING TRACK.

Byline: Yvette Cabrera Daily News Staff Writer

Proposition 5, the American Indian gaming initiative, was leading Tuesday after one of the most hotly contested and costliest battles in state history.

Other state propositions that held leads were measures that involved tax protection for toxic cleanup, transportation funding, animal trapping and horse slaughter.

Other state measures - on presidential primary elections, electric utilities and air quality tax credits - were losing.

Initiatives on a cigarette tax, and local tax-revenue sharing were locked in close fights.

Passage of Proposition 5 would permit gambling devices and lotteries at tribal casinos, including slot machines and banked card games, as well as providing funds for tribes with no gaming activities.

Opponents of Proposition 5 argued that it would allow unregulated and untaxed gambling and would even result in environmental damage by enabling casinos to operate outside state environmental oversight.

But proponents of the initiative mounted a highly visible ad campaign and promoted the measure as a matter of fairness toward American Indians who have been trying to improve their lot.

Proponents also cited the $120 million generated annually in state and local taxes by Indian gaming, and hailed the proposition as a key to increasing self-reliance by American Indians.

PROPOSITION 1

Property tax relief

Proposition 1 would provide property tax relief for homeowners who are victims of environmental disasters. It would allow families whose homes are destroyed as part of an environmental cleanup to buy homes of similar value, or rebuild, with tax protection.

PROPOSITION 2

Fuel tax revenues

Proposition 2 would amend the state constitution to prevent fuel tax revenues from being siphoned off for nontransportation uses. It was endorsed by both major candidates for governor.

The proposition would allow the Legislature to borrow public transportation funds only during economic emergencies and require such amounts be repaid within a year.

PROPOSITION 3

Open primaries

Proposition 3 was placed on the ballot by the Legislature to amend the state's 1996 open-primary system, which allows voters in primary elections to vote for candidates regardless of party affiliation.

Because the Democratic and Republican parties require that presidential delegates be seated only if they were selected by members of their own party, proponents of Proposition 3 said it was necessary to amend the law.

PROPOSITION 4

Animal trap ban

Proposition 4 contained new restrictions on the use of traps and poisons to kill certain mammals for various purposes. It called for a ban on steel-jawed leg hold traps on wildlife mammals, dogs and cats except when used by government officials in situations where it is the only way to protect human safety.

Opponents called it an unrealistic ban on the tools needed to protect threatened and endangered species and predicted it would force the use of cruel alternatives to control predators.

PROPOSITION 6

Horse protection

Proposition 6 makes killing a horse, pony, burro or mule for human consumption a felony offense. The initiative also makes it a misdemeanor offense to sell horse meat for human consumption.

The initiative's supporters claimed that horses slaughtered for human consumption are not humanely euthanized. Opponents argued the initiative strips voters of their right to choose what they consume.

PROPOSITION 7

Air emissions

Proposition 7, the air quality improvement initiative, would set aside $218 million in state tax credits to encourage air emissions reductions. It would direct the State Air Resources Board to run the program until the year 2011 to acquire, convert or retrofit vehicles, equipment or facilities.

PROPOSITION 9

Electric utility charges

The electric utilities initiative, Proposition 9, would ban private electric utilities from charging customers for the transition costs for nuclear power plants.

Proposition 9 would require at least a 20 percent rate reduction and would not allow the utilities to charge customers for the cost of repaying rate reduction bonds.

Supporters said it was a matter of fairness toward consumers. Opponents argued the measure would slap taxpayers with liability for more than $6 million in bond payments and undermine the state's competitive electric system.

PROPOSITION 10

Tobacco surtax 

Proposition 10, known as the tobacco surtax initiative, calls for the creation of a state commission to establish early childhood development and smoking prevention programs, which would be funded through a new 50-cent per pack tax on cigarette distributors.

Opponents claimed the initiative would take money from existing state programs for children and families while spending almost all of the new revenue on programs not related to smoking or tobacco issues.

Supporters rejected those claims and insisted the initiative would not take any money from schools, and would more than double the funding for anti-tobacco advertising.

PROPOSITION 11

Sales tax sharing

Proposition 11 is an initiative to allow local governments to enter into agreements to share sales tax revenues with a two-thirds vote by the local city council or board of supervisors for each jurisdiction.

Opponents argued that it would take power out of the hands of voters, who have the power to approve such agreements under current law. Supporters said the measure would eliminate bidding wars over sales tax revenue.