Amazon.com Inc., a multinational electronic commerce company, appeals before the California voters to abolish a new law that oblige online sellers to collect sales taxes on purchases made online throughout the state.

On Friday, a referendum petition was filed with the office of state Attorney General so that the state’s registered voters can decide on the given condition, which was part of a law signed in late June.

The new law, which entails online retailers to collect sales taxes from related companies in California, extends the definition of physical presence in the state. Tax collection is now incorporated in companies and individuals that earn commissions through visitor referrals from their websites to the online retailer’s site like Amazon. These companies include marketing and product-development division, as well as company affiliates.

The passage of this law is just one of the actions that states have made to extend the definition of physical presence. In 2009, a similar law was submitted by the legislature; however, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger rejected it.

Several states have been trying get around the 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that restricts them to compel businesses to collect sales taxes apart from those with a physical presence, e.g. store, in the state. A supplementary $200 million in tax revenue is expected every year once the law is pushed through.

Amazon needs to gather round more than 500,000 signatures by the end of September to bring the decision before the residents of California through a statewide vote February next year.

The state beauty queen of Wisconsin has voluntarily given up her title just a few weeks before she was scheduled to fight for the national crown. Identity theft charges filed against her by prosecutors prompted this move.

26-year old Shaletta Porterfield was set to represent Wisconsin in the Miss USA Pageant in Las Vegas next month after winning the 2011 Miss Wisconsin-USA crown. However, the pageant officials announced that Porterfield decided to resign last week following a three-count criminal case filed against her by the Dane County, Wisconsin prosecutors.

Based on the complaint, Porterfield used to work as a commission-base sales representative for a company in Illinois which sells Internet and telephone directory ads. In order to increase her commissions, Porterfield allegedly drew up questionable contracts with three companies in Wisconsin and forged signatures in the process.

The companies only found out about the drafted contracts after the American Marketing and Publishing, Porterfield’s employer, sent invoices for a total amount of $4,670.

If proven guilty, Porterfield could be imprisoned for up to six years in state prison and pay fines of as much as $30,000 for all three charges. Robert Nagal, the beauty queen’s attorney, refused to make a statement and comment on the issue. He was apparently out of his office on Tuesday.

As the first runner-up of the Miss Wisconsin-USA 2011, Jordan Morkin will represent the state in the national competition next month in Las Vegas.