Judge likely to strike down ballot title for gas tax repeal

SACRAMENTO — California’s attorney general wrote a misleading description of a ballot initiative to repeal the recently approved gas tax increase, a judge concluded in a tentative ruling issued this week.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s official ballot description would likely confuse voters because it focuses on the loss of transportation funding rather than the repeal of taxes, Sacramento County Superior Court judge Timothy Frawley wrote in his tentative opinion on Tuesday.

“The problem with the Attorney General’s title and summary is that an ordinary, reasonable elector, who is otherwise unfamiliar with the initiative, would not be able to discern what the initiative would do,” Frawley wrote.

Frawley will hear arguments Friday on the ballot title and summary, which appears on petition forms and the ballot. Judges rarely reverse their decision after issuing a tentative ruling.

Republican Assemblyman Travis Allen, a candidate for governor, is backing the repeal initiative and brought the lawsuit against Becerra’s ballot title. The description must be finalized before Allen and his allies can begin collecting signatures in an attempt to put the repeal bill on the November 2018 ballot.

“This brings us one step closer to repealing Jerry Brown’s hugely unpopular gas tax,” Allen said in a statement.