Local News in Brief : Rent Petitions Invalid

Sponsors of an initiative that would expand rent control in Santa Monica were dealt a major blow Thursday when the city attorney ruled that petitions being circulated to qualify the measure for the November ballot are illegal.

City Atty. Robert M. Myers also ruled that petitions being circulated for another measure, which seeks to limit campaign contributions, are similarly invalid.

The decisions probably will kill both measures, which were being sponsored by the city’s dominant political organization, Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights.

Myers said the texts of the proposed Charter amendments were written on the back of the petitions, rather than on the front, where people are asked to sign, making the documents “confusing and misleading.”

The rent control measure sought to eliminate the exemption given by the city’s current law to two- and three-unit buildings in which the owner occupies one of the apartments. The proposal to extend rent control to those buildings had been strongly criticized by landlord and homeowner groups.

About 5,400 signatures are required to qualify a measure for the ballot in Santa Monica. The deadline to get on the November ballot is June 10.