Nebraska State Fair Referendum (2008)
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The State Fair Referendum is an effort to overturn LB 1116 at the November ballot box. LB 1116 is a law passed by the Unicameral in 2008 that mandates moving the State Fair from Lincoln to Grand Island in 2010.[1]
The effort to overturn LB 1116 through the veto referendum process is sponsored by FairVoteNebraska, whose spokesperson is Roger Yant. In order to succeed, the group must colect about 60,000 signatures from 38 counties before a July 16 deadline. If they do succeed, the question will appear on the ballot, and the state's voters can decide if they agree or not with the unicameral's decision to mandate the state fair re-location.[2],[3]
The group supporting the referendum has announced that they will be turning in signatures on Wednesday, July 16 to qualify the measure for the ballot.[4]
The total cost of the move for Nebraska taxpayers is $42 million, with Grand Island obligated to contribute $8.5 million toward that total. As a result, even some Grand Island businesses are listed as petition-circulation locations.[5]
Petition opposing State Fair move fails
The relocation of the Nebraska State Fair to Grand Island won't be an issue on the November election ballot -- but petition organizers said July 16, 2008, that they have other plans to stop the move of the State Fair.
"We're not done yet," said Roger Yant, spokesman for Fair Vote Nebraska.
Neither he nor organizer Mike Donlan of Lincoln would specify what the next step might be -- only that some form of announcement would come in the next 24 to 48 hours.
"We're looking at some legalities -- looking at some options," Donlan said Wednesday.
The petition circulators, all volunteers, including several in Grand Island, hoped to place the State Fair relocation question on the November general election ballot.
The Nebraska Legislature approved a new state law this spring that authorizes moving the fair to Grand Island by 2010. That will leave the fairgrounds in Lincoln for development by the University of Nebraska for a research and innovation park.
In the case of Fair Vote Nebraska, the group not only needed about 57,000 valid signatures, but those signatures needed to represent 5 percent of registered voters in 38 of Nebraska's 93 counties, said Deputy Secretary of State for Elections Neal Erickson. The deadline was 5 p.m. Wednesday.
"We didn't get the 38 counties," Yant said Wednesday.
Yant said the petition had strong support in Hall, York, Lancaster, Sarpy and Douglas counties, but failed to garner the needed 5 percent representation from the majority of Nebraska counties.
A total of 5,500 petitions, each with the capacity of 20 signatures, had been distributed among 12 core volunteers in Lincoln and Omaha and hundreds of others across the state, Yant said.
Fair Vote organizers said no final petition paperwork would be turned in to the state -- something that's common when signature numbers aren't met.
Meanwhile, the failure of the petition effort seemed to turn a yellow light into a green for groups in Grand Island.
"This gives us the ability to move forward with the planning," said Hugh Miner Jr., vice president and chief executive officer of Fonner Park.
Fonner Park officials have been meeting with the Nebraska State Fair Board to determine the number and location of new buildings that will be needed to accommodate the State Fair.
Cindy Johnson, president of the Grand Island Area Chamber of Commerce, was pleased with Wednesday's conclusion of the petition process.
"It obviously takes away a cloud that, consciously or not, was hanging over our heads -- the city's heads, the state's heads -- as far as relocation of the State Fair," Johnson said.
She's not surprised that other challenges to the Legislature's action are being considered by the Fair Vote Nebraska group, but she isn't concerned. Anyone can file a lawsuit, but that doesn't mean it has merit, Johnson said.
"We're happy it is was resolved this way. We feel the legislative process is very open," Johnson said, noting that the majority of Nebraskans obviously disagreed with Yant when he alleged the move of the State Fair wasn't known to people during the legislative session. "The democratic process played itself out."
A recent study by the chamber indicated the State Fair would create a $64.5 million economic impact for Grand Island. The move also has strong support from Gov. Dave Heineman, who reiterated his confidence in Grand Island raising the necessary funds. [6]
External links
References
- ↑ Group files petition to reject state fair move
- ↑ http://www.theindependent.com/opinions/x889232579/Potential-State-Fair-vote-means-bigger-question-for-city Potential state fair vote means bigger question for city]
- ↑ Organizers expect petition drives to fail
- ↑ Fair group plans to file petitions Wednesday
- ↑ Local business joins state fair petition effort
- ↑ TheIndependent.com: "Fair Vote Nebraska plans to continue opposition to move of State Fair, even though petition drive fell short", The Grand Island Independent, July 16, 2008
