Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Legal Proceeding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
City attorney: court orders rewrite of ballot language in legal challenge
Summary
City Attorney Randy Mara told the Port Richey CRA board Aug. 4 that a court found the proposed ballot language deficient and ordered that it be amended within 10 days; he said the measure itself was not stricken but the language must be revised to comply with statutes and the constitution.
City Attorney Randy Mara told the redevelopment board Aug. 4 that a legal challenge to the proposed ballot language had been successful and that a court ordered the language be amended. Mara said the ruling did not remove the measure from the ballot but required the state to produce language the court found less argumentative and more accurate about what the measure proposes.
"There was a legal challenge made to the ballot measure and the ballot language, ... and that challenge was successful," Mara said. He described the courts output as giving the state 10 days from the order to amend the language so it "complies with the constitution and statutes." Mara said it remained unclear whether the state would appeal the order or simply amend the language; if it amends within the courts timeframe, the measure would remain on the ballot under the revised wording.
Mara characterized the development as a procedural/legal change to the ballot-language process rather than an outright invalidation of the measure. Board members asked procedural questions about deadlines and possible appeals; Mara declined to speculate about the state's next step but said the order requires compliance within the identified period.
