SDCTA opposes Proposition 16 - New two-thirds voter approval requirement for local public electricity providers , 2010
Proposition 16 or the "new two-thirds voter approval requirement for local public electricity providers" is a voter-generated Constitutional amendment initiative that would place additional restrictions on the establishment and expansion of local publicly owned utilities and CCAs by requiring two-thirds majority support of popular vote of citizens in the proposed jurisdiction, and additionally, in the case of expansion, two-thirds majority support in a utility's current jurisdiction. The initiative reads, "no local government shall, at any time, incur any bonded or other indebtedness or liability in any manner or use any public funds for the construction or acquisition of facilities, works, goods, commodities, products or services to establish or expand electric delivery service, or to implement a plan to become an aggregate electricity provider, without the assent of two-thirds of the voters within the jurisdiction of the local government and two-thirds of the voters within the territory to be served." Section (h) states that these restrictions do not apply to use of public funds that (1) has previously been approved by voters within the local government's jurisdiction or (2) is for the purpose of purchasing or supplying renewable electricity or electricity for a local government's own end use.