The state Intermediate Court of Appeals is expected to rule today on whether Stop Rail Now's anti-rail ordinance can appear on the Nov. 4 ballot.

The group wants the court to overturn a Honolulu Circuit Court ruling declaring that Stop Rail Now needs nearly 45,000 valid signatures to place its proposed ordinance before general election voters. The group, which has collected about 35,000 valid signatures, maintains it needs about 30,000 signatures to get on the ballot.

Stop Rail Now sued Honolulu City Clerk Denise De Costa in August after she refused to process the group's petition to place the following question before voters: "Honolulu mass transit shall not include trains or rail."

Attorneys for the city and Stop Rail Now yesterday stated their cases for about an hour before the appeals court about the meaning of seemingly conflicting statements in the charter. A three-judge panel is expected to issue a decision today. That decision likely will be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

Stop Rail Now is seeking an injunction to place its proposed ordinance on the ballot in place of a City Council-initiated charter amendment question that asks whether the city shall "establish a steel wheel on steel rail transit system."

Stop Rail Now has criticized the City Council's charter amendment question because it would not prevent the city from proceeding with the project regardless of the vote results. The group also argued that its ordinance allows voters to kill all forms of rail transit as opposed to the city question, which would only prohibit building a steel-wheeled train.

The city has argued that Stop Rail Now's petition should not be placed on the November ballot because the group specifically asked for a special election. By asking for a special election, the city said, Stop Rail Now was trying to get on the November ballot by gathering fewer signatures than if it had asked to be on the general election ballot.

That "front door" to the general election ballot requires more signatures than Stop Rail Now has gathered, the city argued. In addition, the city argued that it is too late to put Stop Rail Now's initiative on the November ballot because those ballots are already being printed.

Mark Recktenwald, chief judge on the appeals court, said the court would issue a ruling today.

The options facing the court include denying Stop Rail Now's request for an injunction, which would result in the City Council question remaining on the ballot. Or the court could decide in Stop Rail Now's favor, which would knock the City Council question off the ballot. The court yesterday also discussed the possibility of allowing both questions on the ballot pending a final resolution by the Hawai'i Supreme Court.

If the third scenario took place, both issues would appear on the ballot. However, vote results would be tallied for only one question, depending on how the Supreme Court may rule on the issue.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann hopes to start construction on the 20-mile elevated commuter rail project in late 2009 or early 2010. The project is expected to cost an inflation-adjusted $5 billion and take nearly a decade to complete all phases.