Martinez

In this writ petition, we are called upon to address whether the ballot title adopted by the Los Angeles City Council for Measure R, consisting in part of a proposed amendment to the city charter to be put before voters in the general election on November 7, 2006, complies with election law. As adopted by the city council, the ballot title to Measure R describes the charter amendment as follows:

“COUNCIL MEMBER TERM LIMITS OF THREE TERMS; CITY LOBBYING, CAMPAIGN FINANCE AND ETHICS LAWS. CHARTER AMENDMENT AND ORDINANCE PROPOSITION_.

“Shall the Charter be amended and ordinance adopted to: change Councilmember term limits to three terms; restrict lobbyists from making campaign contributions, gifts and becoming commissioners; revise lobbyist registration thresholds; require contractors certify compliance with lobbying laws; extend elected officials’ post-employment restrictions; require ethics training; and revise requirements for independent expenditure and campaign contributions?”

Under section 96 of the city’s Election Code, all of the quoted language above constitutes the “ballot title.” For ease of reference, we shall refer to the uppercase portion as the “heading”…