By Emily Holding, SAN DIEGO NEWSROOM.COM
California voters may not be as open to the idea of legalized marijuana as they used to be, according to a survey of 500 likely California voters conducted by Smith/Johnson Research. The survey shows opposition is up four percent from November when a Probolsky Research poll clocked it at 52 percent.
But according to a poll conducted for CBS 5 by SurveyUSA that was released April 21, 56 percent of Californians support legalizing marijuana for recreational use. Only three percent of those surveyed were unsure.
California was the first state to legalize medical marijuana in 1996, and in November it may also be the first to legalize it for recreational use.
Also on the ballot is Proposition 17, which would allow insurance companies to give “persistency discounts” to new customers who have had continuous auto coverage. Mercury Insurance Group has provided 98 percent of the funding for the “Yes on 17” campaign.
The California Department of Insurance, whose commissioner is GOP governor candidate Steve Poizner, has accused Mercury of violating state laws.
“Within the scope of this report, 54 general practices were alleged as being in violation of California law,” reads the report from the Department of Insurance.
The report lists the main areas of non-compliance in the company’s commercial lines as being the “use of unfiled rates and the non-renewal of risks based on the agents’ requests.” The main areas of concern in personal lines were listed as “the misapplication of credits, the failure to provide a specific reason for policy cancellation and non-renewal, and the improper application of accident surcharges.”
Mercury has denied the accusations, saying they do follow the law, and suggesting that Poizner released this information for political reasons.
Also on the ballot may be the Financial Accountability in Redistricting Act, which would repeal the 2008 Citizens Redistricting Commission established under Proposition 11, giving the responsibility of redrawing district lines back to the Legislature.
Haim Saban, the entertainment mogul behind Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, recently loaned $2 million to the campaign. A combined $160,000 has come from 14 Democratic members of California’s congressional delegation, including $10,000 from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and $20,000 from Assembly Speaker Karen Bass.
The repeal must gather nearly 700,000 valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot.
