48-5314. Election on regional transportation plan and excise tax

A. The board shall:

1. Adopt a twenty-year comprehensive multimodal regional transportation plan consistent with the requirements of this article, including transportation corridors by priority and a schedule indicating the dates that construction will begin for projects contained in the plan.

2. Request by resolution certified to the county board of supervisors that the issue of levying a transportation excise tax pursuant to section 42-6106 be submitted to the qualified electors at a countywide special election or placed on the ballot at a countywide general election. Within six months after receiving a certified copy of the resolution, the county board of supervisors shall either call a special election or place the issue on the ballot of a general election, subject to the requirements of this section.

B. The election ballot shall include a description of each transportation element of the regional transportation plan including a separate percentage share and dollar share of the transportation excise tax revenues allocated to each element.

C. In addition to any other requirements prescribed by law, the county board of supervisors shall prepare and print a publicity pamphlet concerning the ballot question and mail one copy of the pamphlet to each household containing a registered voter in the county. The mailings may be made over a period of days but shall be mailed for delivery before the earliest date registered voters may receive early ballots for the election. The publicity pamphlet shall contain:

1. The date of the election.

2. The individual household's polling place and the time the polls will be open.

3. A summary of the principal provisions of the issue presented to the voters, including the rate of the transportation excise tax, the number of years the tax will be in effect and the projected annual and cumulative amount of revenues to be raised.

4. A statement describing the purposes for which the transportation excise tax monies may be spent as provided by law, including:

(a) A summary of the regional transportation plan adopted pursuant to section 48-5309 and subsection A of this section, including a description of each transportation element of the regional transportation plan.

(b) A map of proposed routes and transportation corridors of all major transportation projects and public transportation systems.

(c) The percentage share and dollar amount of transportation excise tax revenues, together with other identified revenues, dedicated for each transportation element, transportation project and public transportation system, and conditions and limitations on the use of the money.

5. The form of the ballot.

6. Any arguments for or against the ballot measure. Affirmative arguments, arranged in the order in which the elections director received them, shall be placed before the negative arguments, also arranged in the order in which they were received.

D. Not later than ninety days before the date of the election, a person may file with the county elections director an argument, not more than three hundred words in length, advocating or opposing the ballot measure, subject to the following requirements:

1. The person who files the argument shall also pay to the elections director a publication fee prescribed by the board of supervisors. Payment of the fee required by this paragraph, or reimbursement of the payor, constitutes sponsorship of the argument.

2. If the argument is sponsored by one or more individuals, the argument shall be signed by each sponsoring individual.

3. If the argument is sponsored by one or more organizations, the argument shall be signed by two executive officers of each organization.

4. If the argument is sponsored by one or more political committees, the argument shall be signed by each committee's chairperson or treasurer.

5. The names of persons who have signed arguments and the names of sponsoring organizations shall appear with the argument in the pamphlet. The person or persons signing the argument shall also give their residence or post office address and a telephone number, which shall not appear in the pamphlet.

E. In addition to any other ballot requirements prescribed by law, the elections director shall cause the following to be printed on the official ballot:

1. The designation of the measure as follows: " Relating to county transportation excise (sales) taxes" .

2. Instructions directing the voter to the full text of the official and descriptive titles containing the summary as printed in the sample ballot and posted in the polling place. The ballot may include the summary of the regional transportation plan.

3. The questions submitted to the voters as follows:

I. Do you approve the regional transportation plan for ________________ county? YES ________ NO _________

(A " YES" vote indicates your approval of the proposed regional transportation plan as developed by the regional transportation authority and described in the election materials.)

(A " NO" vote indicates your disapproval of the proposed regional transportation plan.)

II. Do you favor the levy of a transaction privilege (sales) tax for regional transportation purposes in ____________ county? YES __________ NO __________

(A " YES" vote has the effect of imposing a transaction privilege (sales) tax in __________ county for ________ years to provide funding for the transportation projects contained in the regional transportation plan.)

(A " NO" vote has the effect of rejecting the transaction privilege (sales) tax for transportation purposes in __________ county.)

F. For ballot question II to be approved and implemented, both the proposed regional transportation plan and the proposed transaction privilege tax must be approved by a majority of the qualified electors voting on the measure. If ballot question I fails to be approved by a majority of the qualified electors voting on the measure, both measures fail. If ballot question I is approved by a majority of the qualified electors voting on the measure and ballot question II fails to be approved by a majority of the qualified electors voting on the measure, the proposed regional transportation plan is approved without the proposed transaction privilege tax. Not later than five years after voter approval of the regional transportation plan, the board may submit to the voters a subsequent transaction privilege tax measure to fund the previously approved regional transportation plan, and if approved by a majority of the qualified electors voting on the measure, both the approved regional transportation plan and the approved transaction privilege tax may be implemented.

G. Except as otherwise provided by this section, the election under this section shall be conducted as nearly as practicable in the manner prescribed for general elections in title 16.

H. The county election officer shall account for costs specifically incurred with respect to the ballot issue under this section.

I. Notwithstanding section 42-6106, subsection E, if a regional transportation authority transaction privilege tax is approved at an election held as prescribed by this section, the levy and collection of the tax shall begin on April 1 immediately following approval of the tax and may be in effect for a period of not more than twenty years.