Bill Magavern's 2008 California Ballot Rx

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Sara S. Nichols

Well, they're here! The long-awaited Bill Magavern ballot recommendations. With so many people absentee voting, we get requests for these LONG before the election. Hold your horses, people!!! Unless you are leaving for Europe or a tour of duty, what is the friggin' hurry on voting? I still walk to the neighborhood precinct on voting day, but if I voted two or three or four weeks out I would often regret it. New info really crystalizes in the final weeks of a campaign.

So without further ado:

THE BILL MAGAVERN BALLOT RECOMMENDATIONS, FEBRUARY 2008
PROPOSITIONS

91 – NO
Even its authors have disowned this one. Its effect would be to expand the circumstances under which all of the sales tax on gasoline – not the gas tax, but the sales tax – could be spent only on transportation, which would bind the hands of the governor and legislature during times of fiscal crisis.

92 – NO
91 and 92 share one of the worst features of ballot-box budgeting, because they both would carve out slices of the budget pie without doing anything to enlarge the pie. In this case, the cause is a worthy one – community colleges. But 92 wouldn’t raise any revenue, it would just direct existing revenues toward
community colleges, meaning other programs, like health, K-12 education, parks, etc – would be cut. And capping community college fees is not as progressive as it may sound. A much more equitable policy would be to raise fees on those who can afford to pay and use the money to provide more financial aid for low-income
students.

93 – YES
CA’s legislative term limits are just about the tightest in the country, and still would be even if 93 passes. The difference would be that a legislator
could serve up to 12 years in one house, which would greatly increase the continuity and institutional memory in the Assembly. Currently, the lower house
looks like a revolving door, as freshmen arrive in Sacramento already eyeing their next move, usually to the Senate. The situation means that fundraising –
almost all of it from special interests – never stops.