Ventura County Starr

SACRAMENTO -- If, as promised, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger calls a special election for November, the likely menu of ballot propositions that will be put before Californians has now been set.

The labor-backed group called Alliance for a Better California on Tuesday announced it has submitted signatures to qualify two initiatives -- one that would partially reregulate electrical power and another that would require pharmaceutical companies to offer discounts to the uninsured as a condition for having their drugs authorized for use by Medi-Cal patients.

In response, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America said it will submit signatures for an initiative to establish a voluntary prescription drug discount program.

That brings to eight the number of initiatives pending verification by elections officials. If all have the required number of legitimate signatures of registered voters -- 373,816 for statutes, 598,105 for constitutional amendments -- they would make up the ballot for a fall election.

Governor to decide by June 10

Gene Browning, Ventura County's assistant registrar of voters, said signatures for seven of the measures -- all but the pharmaceutical industry initiative -- have been submitted to his office.

Schwarzenegger has said he will decide by June 10 whether to call a special election and has repeatedly stated that he intends to do so.

Leaders of the labor-backed alliance said they were filing their initiatives reluctantly but that their hopes of averting a ballot-box showdown have now vanished.

"This was a special election that we never asked for," said spokesman Dave Low, "but if Gov. Schwarzenegger insists on a special election, we will do something real and tangible for the people of California."

Supporters say their two proposals address issues that ordinary citizens consider important to their lives -- affordable prescription drugs and reliable electrical service -- while the measures backed by Schwarzenegger address issues of marginal interest to voters.

Schwarzenegger's measures

The three measures submitted by Schwarzenegger and allies deal with changing the rules for adopting a state budget, taking the power to draw political districts away from the Legislature and extending the probationary period for new teachers before they qualify for job-security protections.

Joel Fox, co-chairman of the group formed to support Schwarzenegger's initiatives, said the governor's measures constitute "things that need to be done to save California."

Without the changes Schwarzenegger seeks, Fox said, future tax increases will be inevitable.

"I think people will get it," he said. "Our job is to make it clear that this is a continuation of the recall."

The other candidates for a November ballot are a proposition that would require parents be notified before a minor can undergo an abortion and a measure that would force public-employee unions to annually get written permission from all members before spending any of the dues they pay on political activities.

Anthony Wright, executive director of the healthcare consumer group Health Access, said the drug-discount initiative is necessary because Schwarzenegger "has been the barrier to cheaper prescription drug drugs. ... That's why we have to go the ballot and take this issue directly to the people."

Industry opposes discount plan

Billy Tauzin, president of the pharmaceutical industry trade group, said the initiative proposed by Wright "would harm the future search for cures and new treatments."

He said his group's proposal, which encompasses a plan backed by Schwarzenegger, would provide discounts by allowing the state to enter into voluntary agreements with drug manufacturers.

A bill to implement the administration's plan was rejected by the Senate Health Committee last month. Opponents say voluntary measures do not work, and that the only way to negotiate discounts with drug manufacturers is to use the state's bulk purchasing power as leverage. Medi-Cal, the federal-state health insurance program for low-income residents, spends about $4 billion a year on prescription drugs.

Backers say the electricity measure will provide greater reliability for electrical power because it will limit the ability of individual customers to break away from public utilities and strike deals to purchase power from other sources.

"Utilities will know what their market is," said Lenny Goldberg of The Utility Reform Network. "It's a very modest measure that basically stabilizes the market."

Jan Smutny-Jones, executive director of the Independent Energy Producers Association, said the initiative sets the state back because it injects a new level of uncertainty that will discourage power generators from investing in California.