[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

First with the big news. If for some reason you haven't heard yet, Barack Obama gained enough delegates yesterday to credibly claim the Democratic nomination for president of the United States,and if recent polls are any indicator, Californians are ready toembrace his candidacy and take the fight to John McCain. HillaryClinton stopped short of conceding, but her remarks gave everyindication that she was preparing for a new chapter of her politicallife.

Back here in California, Proposition 98, the deceptive anti-tenant,anti-environment, anti-local control ballot measure opposed byFeinstein, Schwarzenegger, the Sierra Club and the Chamber ofCommerce—not a group you're likely to see together all that much—went down in flames, with 61 percent voting no, the Los Angeles Times reports. A benign alternative that addresses real eminent domain issues, Proposition 99, was ahead.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Lynda Carson

The June 2008 Ballot has a dangerous measure known as Proposition 98 (California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act, or CPOFPA). If passed by the voters, Prop. 98 would terminate rent control, tenant protections, and would place homeowners at risk by allowing unscrupulous property owners to challenge existing building codes and zoning laws that may prohibit the placing of a “pig sty” next to someone’s home, or a “porn shop” next to a church or school.

There are only two state ballot measures coming up in June, one known as Prop. 98 and the other as Prop. 99. Both competing measures are meant to prevent government from taking private property for other private use, and are in response to a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision that allows the government to take private property and turn it over to another private interest for economic development. Activists across the state, say that Prop. 98 is bad, and Prop. 99 is good.

Prop. 98 is also a stealth measure that guts protections for land, air, water, species and natural resources, according to a legal analysis by the environmental law firm of Shute, Mihaly and Weinberger.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

• Impacts mobile home parks
• 1 million households impacted by rent control
• Registration deadline is May 19 for the June 3 primary election