We've known for about a week now that STOP had gathered enough valid signatures to force the Sacramento arena subsidy to a vote, IF the petitions themselves passed the scrutiny of Sacramento City Clerk Shirley Concolino, who reminded everyone that she had "final authority" to decide the validity of the petitions. Concolino told Sactown Royalty yesterday that she would make a decision by today.

That decision has come, and it isn't good for the arena opposition. The Sacramento Bee's Ryan Lillis reports that Concolino has rejected the petitions.

From the Bee:

Concolino told the groups behind the ballot measure this morning the petitions were "noncompliant with the California elections code and the Sacramento City Charter and are therefore insufficient" to qualify the measure for the ballot. Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork (STOP) and Voters for a Fair Arena Deal had collected 22,938 signatures from registered city voters in their attempt to qualify the measure for the ballot. "I've never seen a petition with as many flaws as this one," Concolino said.

Among the major flaws Concolino noted were the lack of any "enacting clauses" in any of the nine various petitions and entire missing paragraphs of the notice of intent on several of the petitions. These differences were brought to light in a letter by pro-arena group the 4000 a few weeks ago.

STOP will likely sue the City Clerk regarding her decision, and whether or not this measure goes to the June Ballot will likely be decided in court.