Cheryl Miller reported in The Recorder that a qualified initiative that would have created a $2 billion lead paint remediation fund was withdrawn last week after “[l]egislative leaders said they cut a deal with The Sherwin-Williams Co. and Conagra Grocery Products Co. to drop the ballot measure in exchange for continued talks aimed at reaching ‘a resolution during the remainder of this legislative session.'”
The initiative withdrawal came just days after a writ petition challenging the initiative was filed in the Supreme Court by two counties that had won an enormous judgment against the initiative proponents, a judgment the initiative was seeking to negate. After the withdrawal of the initiative, the counties filed a notice of dismissal of their writ petition. The Supreme Court will probably treat the notice as a dismissal request and dismiss the petition.
[July 11 update: The court treated the notice of dismissal as a request to withdraw the writ petition, and the court today granted the request.]